A’s 2022 Player Development staff includes new High-A, Low-A managers

The Oakland A’s announced their 2022 Player Development staff on Thursday, covering all kinds of areas around the organization including minor league managers, instructors, and overall farm coordinators. Click here to see the full list of names from the team’s press release.

At the top, Ed Sprague returns for his third season as the Director of Player Development, and his seventh year overall on the staff. His predecessor, Kieth Lieppman, is back again in an advisory role, for his 52nd season in the organization.

Among other familiar names, Grady Fuson (Special Assistant to the General Manager), Gil Patterson (minor league pitching coordinator), and Jim Eppard (minor league hitting coordinator) stay in their same jobs.

A couple notable changes come among the minor league managers, as High-A Lansing and Low-A Stockton both get new skippers. See the full list below, including how long they’ve been in their current position.

• Triple-A Las Vegas: Fran Riordan (5th season)
• Double-A Midland: Bobby Crosby (2nd season)
• High-A Lansing: Phil Pohl (1st season)
• Low-A Stockton: Anthony Phillips (1st season)
• AZ Rookie League: Adam Rosales (2nd season)

Pohl spent the last six seasons as Oakland’s bullpen catcher, working with the MLB team. Before that he played a few years in the A’s farm system as a catcher. This is his first managing assignment.

Phillips coached for Single-A Beloit in 2019, and would have worked at short-season Vermont in 2020 if the minors hadn’t been canceled that year. Most recently, he was the assistant hitting coach for High-A Lansing last summer. As a player, he signed out of South Africa as a teenager and spent 2007-18 in the minors for a few organizations, but never reached the majors. This is also his first managing assignment.

Meanwhile, Riordan, Crosby, and Rosales return to the same posts they held in 2021. Riordan began managing in Oakland’s system in 2015, for Single-A Beloit and later Double-A Midland, before moving up to Triple-A (then-Nashville) in 2018. Crosby and Rosales both played for the A’s during their careers.

Among other coaching notes, former A’s prospect Jason Hart joins Triple-A Las Vegas as their assistant hitting coach; former A’s pitcher Chris Smith moves from Low-A pitching coach up to Double-A pitching coach; and former A’s third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff becomes the hitting coach for Low-A after doing that job in Double-A last year. Taking Kouz’s old spot in Double-A is Todd Takayoshi, who joins the organization after spending the past two decades coaching in various roles for other teams.

Previous High-A manager Scott Steinmann moves up to an organizational role called hitting performance coach. Former Triple-A pitching coach Rick Rodriguez becomes the assistant pitching rehab coordinator (under Craig Lefferts). Longtime coach and instructor Steve Scarsone, currently the minors outfield and baserunning coach, also picks up a new role called Arizona field coordinator, responsible for organizing the club’s various programs in that state. Infield coordinator Juan Navarrete begins his 27th season in the organization, and his third in that job.