Poldberg A Mainstay

Northwest Arkansas Naturals Welcome New Faces

Brian Poldberg, Naturals manager, will be one of the few recognizable faces for the Naturals when the season begins.
Brian Poldberg, Naturals manager, will be one of the few recognizable faces for the Naturals when the season begins.

— Brian Poldberg will probably be the most recognizable face in the Northwest Arkansas dugout this season.

The Kansas City Royals recently announced Poldberg will return as the Naturals’ manager for a sixth season, but the veteran skipper will have a new coaching staff, and many new young faces on the roster. The Naturals are the Royals Double-A affiliate.

Poldberg guided the Naturals to the Texas League playoffs his first four seasons with the club, including winning the 2010 Texas League Championship Series. But Poldberg will be without pitching coach Larry Carter and hitting coach Terry Bradshaw this season. Carter, who coached five seasons with the Naturals, and Bradshaw, who was in the dugout with Poldberg the last four years, were promoted to new positions in the organization.

"Youth is good. They are eager and they are hungry. They are willing to work. I look forward to having a young team."

BRIAN POLDBERG

Northwest Arkansas Naturals Manager

“If I’m not in the big leagues, Springdale is the best place to be,” Poldberg said. “The biggest change will be not having LC and Terry back. It will be kind of a culture shock not having them around.”

Naturals general manager Eric Edelstein said having Poldberg back will make the team a playoff contender.

“We breathed a sigh of relief because Brian is the best manager in all of minor league baseball,” Edelstein said. “We are thrilled that he is back.”

Carter was promoted to Triple-A Omaha, while Bradshaw is now the Royals’ minor league hitting instructor.

Jim Brower will be the new pitching coach, while Nelson Liriano will be the Naturals’ hitting coach. Brower was a major league pitcher for nine years, and he led the majors with 89 appearances in 2004. He was the pitching coach at Class A Kane County the previous two seasons.

Liriano has been a hitting coach and a manager in the Royals’ organization and has 11 years of major league playing experience, hitting .260 in 823 games.

Poldberg and the new staff will greet perhaps the youngest team to ever wear a Naturals uniform. Pitchers Yordano Ventura and Jason Adam, and infielder Cheslor Cuthbert all rank among the top 10 Royals prospects and all three played at Class A-Advanced Wilmington last season. Ventura (1-2) also started six games for the Naturals last season.

Ventura and Adam are 21 years old, while Cuthbert is 20.

“Youth is good,” Poldberg said. “They are eager and they are hungry. They are willing to work. I look forward to having a young team.”

One of the older Royals prospects most likely to play for the Naturals this spring will be outfielder Brett Eibner, who played his college baseball at Arkansas. Eibner has struggled the past two seasons.

Eibner was a second-round pick by Kansas City in 2010 and has a .196 batting average with 15 home runs and 53 RBIs in two full professional seasons. He only played in 76 games his first season after suffering a thumb injury the first weekend of the season.

“Brett is a great athlete,” Poldberg said. “He has struggled a little bit, but some times jumping up to the next level helps them. I’m looking forward to having his athletic ability in the outfield. I would love to have Brett.”

The Naturals could also have some power in the lineup as Kansas City signed Ian Gac to a minor league contract last month. Gac, a 6-foot-3, 240-pound right-handed hitter, has spent 10 years in the minors but has never played above Double-A. He batted .247 with seven home runs and 35 RBIs in 75 games last season for Double-A Mississippi (Atlanta Braves).

Gac hit 33 home runs and had 96 RBIs in 2011 while playing in the Class A-Advanced Carolina League for Winston-Salem.

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