PawSox Skipper Named as Coach for IL All-Star Team

Brian Poldberg, manager of the defending Pacific Coast League and Triple-A National Champion Omaha Storm Chasers, and Billy Gardner, Jr., the 2014 International League Manager of the Year with the Syracuse Chiefs, have been named managers of their respective league's All-Star teams for the 2015 Triple-A All-Star Game. The 28th annual Triple-A All-Star Game will take place at Werner Park, home of the PCL's Omaha Storm Chasers, on Wednesday, July 15 at 7:05 p.m. CST on MLB Network as well as the Triple-A All-Star Game Radio Network.

Omaha’s Brian Poldberg is in his second season as the manager of the Storm Chasers, after leading the club to their second-consecutive league title and Triple-A Championship in 2014. He is the sixth manager since 1998 to win a PCL championship in his first season in the league. The native of Carter Lake, Iowa, is closing in on 1,000 wins in his 15-year managerial career, having entered 2015 with 951 victories. Poldberg will be the third Omaha skipper to manage a Triple-A All-Star Game, and the first since Mike Jirschele in 2006.

Poldberg’s PCL All-Star staff includes Fred Dabney, pitching coach of the Colorado Springs Sky Sox, and Franklin Stubbs, hitting coach of the Oklahoma City Dodgers. The 2015 season is Dabney’s first at Colorado Springs, after spending the past three years with Nashville where he was the pitching coach for the last two PCL Pitchers of the Year. Stubbs is in his first campaign with Oklahoma City and has been a coach in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ organization since 2009. He mentored the PCL’s Most Valuable Player in 2014, Joc Pederson, while serving as Albuquerque’s hitting coach. 

The 2015 season marks Billy Gardner, Jr.’s second with the Chiefs, after guiding Syracuse in 2014 to the best record in the IL (81-62) and its first postseason appearance since 1998. The native of New London, Connecticut, has managed 20 seasons in professional baseball with four different organizations. Last season was his first in the Washington Nationals’ farm system, as well as his first at the Triple-A level. Gardner, Jr. joins Bob Bailor (1990) as the only Syracuse skippers to ever manage a Triple-A All-Star Game.

Pawtucket Red Sox manager Kevin Boles, along with Rochester Red Wings hitting coach Tim Doherty, will join Gardner,Jr. in Omaha as members of the IL’s All-Star staff. In his Triple-A debut last season, Boles directed the PawSox to their fourth Governors’ Cup title and second ever appearance in the Triple-A National Championship Game. Doherty is in his third season as the Red Wings’ hitting coach and 13th as a coach in professional baseball. Under his watch, Rochester compiled 1,278 hits in 2014, the fourth-best total in the IL.

The athletic trainer for the PCL All-Star squad is Dave Iannicca, who is in his fifth season with Omaha and 13th overall in professional baseball. For the International League, Bryan Housand will serve as the athletic trainer. Housand is in his 15th season of professional baseball and has spent the last five years with the Indianapolis Indians.