KC Royals Announce Omaha's 2007 Field Staff

OMAHA - The Kansas City Royals announced today that Omaha manager Mike Jirschele and the rest of the team's field staff will return in 2007. Tom Burgmeier will again serve as the Triple-A club's pitching coach, with Terry Bradshaw back as the team's hitting coach and Jeff Stevenson returning as Omaha's trainer.

Jirschele will manage Omaha for a fifth consecutive season and eighth overall, having also skippered the club from 1995-1997. He served as Kansas City Coordinator of Instruction from 1999-2002, after spending 1998 as KC's roving infield instructor. Jirschele also was a manager in the lower levels of the Royals organization from 1992-1994.

In ten seasons as a minor league manager, Jirschele's teams have posted a record of 642-550 (.520). His seven Omaha teams have gone a combined 482-525 (.479). He was selected to manage the Pacific Coast League All-Star Team in the 2006 Triple-A All-Star Game. Jirschele, who served as a coach in the 1997 Triple-A All-Star Game, played briefly for Omaha towards the end of a playing career that began in 1977 when he was a 5th-round draft pick of the Texas Rangers.

Burgmeier returns to Omaha for a second season, after serving as pitching coach for Kansas City's Single-A club in Burlington, Iowa from 2003-2005. He spent the 2001 and 2002 seasons as pitching coach for Baltimore's Double-A affiliate in Bowie. Burgmeier was Kansas City's bullpen coach from 1998-2000, after spending the 1997 season as the Royals video scouting coordinator. He also was a pitching coach in Kansas City's minor league system from 1992-1996.

Burgmeier pitched in the Major Leagues for 17 seasons, compiling a career record of 79-55 with a 3.23 ERA and 102 saves for California, Kansas City, Minnesota, Boston and Oakland. He went 5-4 with a 2.00 ERA and 24 saves for the Red Sox in 1980, when he was named to the American League All-Star Team.

Bradshaw returns for his fourth season as Omaha's hitting coach. He previously spent four years as hitting coach for three of Kansas City's Single-A affiliates: Wilmington (2002-2003), Burlington (2001) and Charleston (2000). Bradshaw was an outfielder with Omaha in 1998, which was the 2nd-to-last season of his ten-year playing career. He was originally a 9th round draft pick by St. Louis in 1990 and spent eight years playing in the Cardinals organization.

The 2007 season will be Stevenson's ninth as Omaha's trainer. In 2005 he was honored as the Pacific Coast League's Trainer of the Year. Prior to coming to Omaha, he served as a trainer for four of Kansas City's Single-A clubs.

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