2013 Midwest League Champion Omar Lopez returns as manager in Quad Cities
DAVENPORT, Iowa (January 6, 2016) – The Quad Cities River Bandits will have a familiar face as manager in 2016 the Midwest League club announced in conjunction with the Houston Astros on Tuesday. Omar Lopez will return to lead the field staff, which also includes returning hitting coach Joel Chimelis and newcomer Chris Holt as pitching coach.
Lopez will begin his third season with Quad Cities and eighteenth with the Astros organization when the River Bandits visit Cedar Rapids on Opening Day. In Lopez’s last stint in the Quad Cities, the River Bandits won 81 regular season games – the fourth-most in franchise history. Quad Cities went 7-1 in three postseason rounds to claim the Midwest League Championship. He was the third Quad Cities manager to win a championship in his first season, joining Jim Napier of the 1979 Quad City Cubs and Don Long of the 1990 Quad City Angels. In 2014, Lopez was tabbed as the manager for the Eastern Division of the Midwest League All-Star game in Grand Rapids, Michigan. During the 2014-15 offseason, Lopez also won honors as the Manager of the Year in the Venezuelan Professional Baseball league – leading the Caribes de Anzoategui to a league best 39-24. Last season Lopez led the Advanced-A Lancaster Jethawks of the California League to their fourth consecutive postseason appearance, while his team lead all of Minor League Baseball in runs scored (888) home runs (174) batting average (.291) and OPS (.850).
Newcomer Chris Holt will take the place of Dave Borkowski as pitching coach of the Bandits. Holt spent the last two seasons with the Tri-City Valley Cats after previously spending time with the Baltimore Orioles as an associate scout. A former minor league pitcher, Holt served as pitching coordinator at the American baseball Institute from 2011-13. Holt also served as an assistant coach for his alma mater, Flagler College, from 2004-2007. He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2002.
Holt and Lopez will join previously announced hitting coach Joel Chimelis who returns for his fourth season with Quad Cities and 11th season as a hitting coach in the Astros organization. Last season, the River Bandits led the Midwest League in doubles (261), walks (510), on-base percentage (.340), slugging percentage (.408) and on-base plus slugging (.749). Chimelis, 47, will serve his 12th season overall as a minor league coach following a 14-season professional career. He has also coached in the Astros organization with short-season Class-A Tri-City (2006-10), Class-A Lexington (2011) and Double-A Corpus Christi (2012). Chimelis also won a championship with the Tri-City staff in 2010. He spent 2004 and 2005 with the Savannah Sand Gnats of the Washington Nationals (Montreal Expos in 2004) organization. A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Chimelis played for Howard (Texas) Junior College and the University of Texas before being drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the 11th round of the 1988 Major League draft out of the University of Texas. He was a minor league infielder in the Athletics (1988-1991), San Francisco Giants (1991-1995) and New York Mets (1996) organizations and also played in Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Taiwan and Korea.
Former minor league infielder Wladimir Sutil will enter his first season with the River Bandits and his third as a coach in the Houston Astros organization. He began coaching with rookie-level Greeneville in 2014 and coached with the rookie-level Gulf Coast League affiliate in 2015. The 30-year-old native of Caracas, Venezuela, played 10 seasons professionally from 2004 to 2013, including eight in the Astros minor league system. With the Astros, he played with rookie-level Greeneville (2004), short-season Class-A Tri-City (2005), Class-A Lexington (2005-2006), Class-A Advanced Salem (2006-2008), Double-A Corpus Christi (2008-2011), Triple-A Round Rock (2010) and Triple-A Oklahoma City (2011). He played the 2012 season in the Arizona Diamondbacks minor league system, followed by stints in the Atlantic League and Venezuelan Winter League before ending his playing career in 2013. In 974 career minor league games, he hit for a .266 average with 139 doubles and 205 stolen bases.
Corey O’Brien returns for his second season as the River Bandits' athletic trainer and fifth season with the Astros organization. Previously, O’Brien was the athletic trainer for Tri-City in 2014 and Greeneville in 2012 and 2013. Prior to joining the Astros, O'Brien was the athletic trainer for the Joliet (Ill.) Slammers, an Independent Professional Baseball team that won the Frontier League cup in the team’s inaugural season of 2011. O’Brien earned his Bachelor of Science degree in athletic training at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and worked as an intern athletic trainer for the Rochester Honkers of the Northwoods League in 2008 and at the Minnesota Twins' Spring Training in 2009. He went on to earn his Master’s Degree in Education in health, physical education and recreation at Delta State (Miss.) University, where he was also a graduate assistant athletic trainer.
Joe Bossard enters his first season as the River Bandits' strength and conditioning coach after his first season in the Astros organization in 2015 with Greeneville.
In 2015, the River Bandits finished with the single best record in all of professional baseball and were one of seven Astros minor league affiliates to reach the playoffs. Rookie-level Greeneville won the Appalachian League Championship, and Triple-A Fresno won the Pacific Coast League Championship and the Triple-A National Championship. Nine players who have played for Quad Cities helped the Astros major league club reach the playoffs for the first time in 10 years. Of the Astros’ top 20 prospects, according to MLB.com, 16 have played with Quad Cities in the last three seasons. Three of the other four – including two of the club’s top four prospects – have yet to play at the Class-A level.
The River Bandits open the 2016 Midwest League season Thursday, April 7, at 6:35 p.m. in Cedar Rapids. The team begins its home schedule with a 1:15 p.m. game against the Kernels on Saturday, April 9, at Modern Woodmen Park.
UP NEXT: Get the best price now on registration for the annual Bandits Race to Home 5K and Kids Fun Run, set for Saturday, April 23, 2016. Registration includes a T-shirt, and prices are $25 for the 5K and $10 for the Kids Fun Run. All proceeds benefit the Bandit Scholars Program. Visit riverbandits.com for the link to register.
ABOUT THE BANDITS: In 2015, the River Bandits three new areas. A two-tiered special group deck immediately behind and overlooking the corn field opened in June. A new expanded the children's play area with additional bounce houses and the newest ride, Spin Zone Bumper Cars, opened in July. And a new 11,000-square-foot concourse expansion down the third-base line opened in late August. An expanded kitchen is already in the works for 2016.
