Brewers and Affiliates Announce 2024 Player Development Staff

Player Development is so important to any and all organizations, but it’s especially strong for a mid-market team like the Brewers. We have seen that with the Brewers. A quick look around the diamond and you can see how many homegrown players are important pieces of the roster. It's important to hire well, but then work with and train your employees in a way that helps them become the best version of themselves, whatever that might mean. The Brewers minor league affiliates announced their coaching staff Thursday and later the Brewers  announced their entire player development staff in a press release. Here are the 2024 Twins Minor League Coaching Staffs. 

Nashville Sounds
Manager Rick Sweet returns for his fifth season at the helm of the Sounds. The 71-year-old became the all-time winningest manager in Sounds history. This will be his 11th season in the Brewers organization and his 34th season as a coach in minor league baseball. That came after a nine-year playing career that included a little big-league time with the Padres, Mets, and Mariners. 

Sweet’s bench coach will be David Tufo, and Ned Yost IV will serve as a coach. Tufo is 37 and joined the Brewers organization in 2020. He managed the Arizona Complex League team for a couple of seasons. Last year, he was the bench coach at Wisconsin. Yost is 41 and this will be his fourth season with the Sounds and 17th season in the Brewers organization. 

Sweet will be joined in the dugout by two hitting coaches, Al LeBoeuf and Eric Theisen. The 63-year-old LeBoeuf is back for his fourth straight season in this role. This marks his 37th season as a coach in professional baseball. Theisen is a youngster at just 39 years old. He is in his fourth season with the Brewers organization but his first as a hitting coach in Nashville. In addition, he is also the assistant hitting coordinator, a role he’s held the past two years.  

Jeremy Accardo will serve as the team’s pitching coach. The 42-year-old is back for his third straight season with the Sounds. You may remember him as a big-league pitcher. He spent parts of eight seasons in the big leagues, spending time with the Giants, Blue Jays, Orioles, Cleveland team that currently goes by Guardians, and the Oakland A’s.  

Patrick McGuff is the youngster of the coaching staff. The 29-year-old returns for his second season in this role for Nashville and third in the organization. He was the Twins 36th round pick in the 2016 draft. 

Biloxi Shuckers 
The Shuckers will be managed by Joe Ayrault. He has been a coach in the organization for 16 seasons including 13 at High-A. He was the Wisconsin manager the past two seasons. He played in seven games for the Braves in 1996. He went 1-for-5, a single off of lefty Chris Hammond. 

Ayrault’s bench coach will be Fidel Pena. He has been the manager in the Dominican Summer League the past four seasons. It’s his eighth season in the organization and first at Double-A. 

Will Schierholz will be the Shuckers’ pitching coach with Paul Moeller working as the bullpen coach. This is Schierholz’s second season with the Shuckers and third year in the organization. Moeller joined the Shuckers coaching staff midway through the 2023 season. Before that, he had been in the Arizona Complex League. He’s also coached in the Dominican. 

JJ Reimer is the team’s hitting coach. He was coaching in Carolina a year ago and then had the opportunity to coach in the Arizona Fall League. 

Finally, Danny Larson will be the team’s Development Coach. This is Larson’s first season in the Brewers organization but also his first season in professional baseball. He was the hitting coach at Iowa Central Community College last spring.  

Wisconsin Timber Rattlers
Victor Estevez will take over as the manager of the Rattlers after leading the Carolina Mudcats last year. He will likely work with many of the same players. He has held a number of roles with the organization over his dozen seasons. 

Ken Joyce returns for his second season as the team’s hitting coach. It is his third season in the Brewers organization, but he is a baseball lifer. He has been coaching for a variety of organizations since 1994. 

Josh Spence took over as the Rattlers’ pitching coach last June. The Australian spent a little time with the Padres as a player. He pitched for Brewers manager Pat Murphy at Arizona State. He started his coaching career in 2016 and joined the Brewers in 2022. 

Andre Ruche and Eric Bunnell are new to the Brewers organization. They have both been assigned the role of “development coach” for Wisconsin. Bunnell joins the Brewers organization from the college ranks where he had coached for 19 seasons. He came directly from Youngstown State. Ruche joins the Brewers organization from Driveline. 

Carolina Mudcats 
36-year-old Nick Stanley is in his seventh season in the Brewers organization, but 2024 will be his first season as a manager. He was the bench coach at Biloxi in 2023 and a hitting coach for two years with Wisconsin. 

The pitching coach will be Michael O’Neal. He held the same role in 2023. This is his fifth season in the organization, but he had been coaching for several years before that in multiple independent leagues.  

The hitting coach will be Austin Turner. The 28-year-old is in his first season with the Mudcats. For two years before that, he coached in the Dominican Summer League. He came to the Brewers after a year in the indy leagues. Before that, he had some roles in small colleges after his own playing days. 

Liu Rodriguez and Marcelo Alfonsin are also coaches for the Mudcats. Rodriguez is 47 and had several roles in the organization including coaching at Nashville and for Wisconsin. He had a long playing career that included 39 games in the big leagues with the White Sox. He continued to play in Mexico and Venezuela and in independent leagues. Alfonsin’s background is in pitching. He joins the Brewers organization this year from the Astros where he coached in the DSL the past couple of seasons. 

Arizona Complex
The Brewers will have one team in the Arizona Complex League (ACL) this year Rafael Neda will be the Manager. Blake Nation and Jesus Hernandez will be the team’s pitching coaches. Luisa Gauci and Evan Berliner are the two hitting coaches. (Read more about Gauci here) Ricky Carvajal will be the development coach. 

DSL/Dominican Complex
The Brewers will again have two teams in the Dominican Summer League. 

Brewers 1 will be managed by Victor Rey. Jorge Ortega is the pitching coach with Joan Abreu as the hitting coach. Robinzon Diaz is listed as just a “Coach,,” but the former catcher will work with the backstops and hitters. Aritz Garcia Goni is the Development Coach. 

Natanael Mejia will be the manager of Brewers 2. The hitting coach is Jose Garcia. Carlos Pimentel is the team’s pitching coach. The “coach” for the team is Jose Pena. 

Player Development Staff
Tom Flanagan: VP of Player Operations and Baseball Administration
Cam Castro: VP, Player Development
Carlos Villanueva: Special Assistant to GM/Baseball Ops/Player Development
Spencer Allen: Director - Player Development
Mark Mueller: Sr. Manager - Baseball Administration
Adela Marquez: Manager - Education
Manuel Vargas: Director - Latin America Operations
Juan De Leon: Coordinator - Latin America Operations
August Fagerstrom: Director - Player Information
Ben Harris: Sr. Coordinator - Player Information
Zack Sorensen: Sr. Coordinator - Player Personnel
Matt Ducondi: Coordinator - Player Information
Pedro Alvarez: Special Assistant - Mental Performance 

Coordinators
Victor Rey: Dominican Republic Field Coordinator
Rafael Neda: Assistant Field Coordinator
Nick Childs: Pitching Coordinator
Bryan Leslie: Lead Strategist - Pitching Development
Juan Sandoval: Assistant Pitching Coordinator
Brenton Del Chiaro: Hitting Coordinator
Eric Theisen: Assistant Hitting Coordinator
Dallas Correa: Catching Coordinator
Matt Erickson: Infield Coordinator
Mike Guerrero: Roving Infield Instructor
Josh Lindblom: Assistant - Player Development

Interested in learning more about the Milwaukee Brewers' top prospects? Check out our comprehensive top prospects list that includes up-to-date stats, articles and videos about every prospect, scouting reports, and more!