The St. Louis Cardinals today announced their Minor League coaching staffs and Player Development personnel for the upcoming 2017 season.
Former Cardinal and Memphis Redbirds fan-favorite Richard "Stubby" Clapp was named the new manager at Memphis (AAA), following the promotion earlier this month of Mike Shildt to the Cardinals Major League coaching staff. Clapp, whose uniform no. 10 was retired by Memphis in 2007, managed the Tri-City Valley Cats (A) in 2011 and 2012, advancing to the New York-Penn League Championship Series in 2012. Clapp served as Hitting Coach for the New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Toronto-A) in 2015-16 and has both coached and played for several Team Canada entries in international play, including the Gold Medal-winning team in the 2011 Pan American Games.
Johnny Rodriguez, a member of the Cardinals minor league coaching staff since 2011, most recently as the manager at State College (A) in 2016, will take over as manager of the Springfield Cardinals (AA). Chris Swauger, who managed the Cardinals rookie-league Johnson City team the past two seasons, has been promoted to the managerial post for full-season Peoria (A).
The remainder of the Cardinals Minor League managerial positions will be filled by Dan Bilardello at Palm Beach (A), Joe Kruzel at State College (A), Roberto Espinoza at Johnson City, Steve Turco at Gulf Coast League Cardinals and Frey Peniche, who returns for a seventh season as the manager of the Cardinals Dominican Summer League team.