After three years with Storm Chasers, Henry takes over as Royals bullpen coach

Former Omaha Storm Chasers pitching coach Doug Henry was named the Kansas City Royals bullpen coach for the 2013 season on Wednesday. The Storm Chasers finished third in the Pacific Coast League in 2012 with a team earned run average of 4.24 and wound up in the top three in team ERA during each of Henry's three seasons guiding the pitching staff.

Henry, who served as the Royals interim bullpen coach the final two weeks of the 2012 season, takes over for Steve Foster, who was named the club's Special Assistant to GM/Minor League Pitching Coordinator on August 31. He has been with the Royals organization since 2008 when he served as the pitching coach at Burlington in the Class A Midwest League.

"Doug has worked as a pitching coach or coordinator at nearly every minor league level and brings a strong working relationship with a majority of our current Major League relief pitchers," Royals' General Manager Dayton Moore said. "His experience in the game will be invaluable to our coaching staff as well as the pitchers he'll interact with on a daily basis."

"I'm happy to have Doug join our Major League staff," said Royals' manager Ned Yost. "He's a former big league pitcher with a ton of experience and has proven to be an excellent pitching coach in the minor leagues. He also has a familiarity with our young pitchers in the system which is a plus."