Warner To Return As Redbirds Manager In 2013
Warner will be joined on the Memphis bench by hitting coach Mark Budaska, athletic trainer Jeremy Clipperton, strength & conditioning coach Sean Johnson, and a new but familiar face: pitching coach and former Redbirds pitcher Bryan Eversgerd.
The 43-year-old Warner, who has spent every year since 2000 in the Cardinals organization and enters his 10th as a field manager, 13th as a coach, has compiled a 586-591 record (.498) as a minor league manager.
Warner was originally drafted by the Cardinals in the 17th round of the 1991 draft as a shortstop out of the University of Wyoming and spent nine years playing in the Cardinals farm system prior to entering the managerial ranks. He played for the Redbirds at Tim McCarver Stadium from 1998-99 and was recognized as the first Redbirds player selected as a Pacific Coast League All-Star in 1998.
Budaska - who guided Redbirds batters to a .257 team average in 2012 - returns to Memphis for his sixth year as hitting coach.
Eversgerd, who pitched for parts of four seasons in the Major Leagues during a 12-year pro playing career, will serve his first year as a pitching coach with Memphis after spending four of the previous five seasons in the same capacity for the Double-A Springfield Cardinals. He begins his 11th overall year as pitching coach in the Cardinals organization. Eversgerd replaces Blaise Ilsley, who was recently promoted to a position as St. Louis' bullpen coach.
Signed by St. Louis as a non-drafted free agent during a June tryout camp at Busch Stadium in 1989, Eversgerd went 2-5 with a 5.16 ERA and 61 strikeouts in 76 games (one start) at the Major League level with St. Louis (1994, '98), Montreal (1995), and Texas (1997).
Eversgerd pitched nine seasons in the Cardinals organization, including three with the Redbirds from 1998-2000 (12-15, 3.27 ERA, 148 SO). The left-hander ranks 3rd in Redbirds' history with 156 relief appearances and was a member of the Pacific Coast League championship team in 2000.
Clipperton, the 2008 PCL Minor League Trainer of the Year, returns to the Bluff City in 2013 to serve his second season with the Redbirds and fourth at the Triple-A level, while Johnson returns to Memphis for his fourth year as the club's strength and conditioning coach.
The Redbirds open the 2013 home slate at AutoZone Park against the Oklahoma City RedHawks at 7:05 p.m. on Thursday, April 4. Season tickets, mini-plan packages, and group outing plans for the 2013 season are currently on sale. Contact the Redbirds at (901) 722-0299 to order or for further details.
About Memphis Redbirds Baseball Foundation: The Memphis Redbirds Baseball Foundation is the first and only not-for-profit charitable organization in the United States to own and operate a professional baseball franchise, the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds. AutoZone Park - the finest ballpark ever built in the United States below the Major League level - is the home of the Redbirds and has served as the cornerstone of development in downtown Memphis. Incorporating the Memphis Redbirds as not-for-profit entity allows the community to own the team and facility. For the first time in history, Mid-South residents, corporate leaders and baseball fans are able to give back to the community - and at the same time enjoy first class entertainment - by supporting Memphis Redbirds Baseball.
About Global Spectrum: Global Spectrum (global-spectrum.com) manages the Memphis Redbirds, as well as more than 100 other public assembly facilities around the world. Nearly 20-million people attended more than 11,000 events in Global Spectrum venues last year. Based in Philadelphia, PA, Global Spectrum is part of Comcast-Spectacor, one of the world's largest sports and entertainment companies. Comcast-Spectacor also owns the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League, Ovations Food Services, a food and beverage services provider, New Era Tickets, a full-service ticketing and marketing product for public assembly facilities, Paciolan, the leading provider of venue establishment ticketing, fundraising and marketing technology solutions, Front Row Marketing Services, a commercial rights sales company, and Flyers Skate Zone, a series of community ice skating rinks.