Elizabethton River Riders

GENERAL INFORMATION

Address:.....................................804 North Holly Lane, ................................................... Elizabethton, TN 37643 Phone: ....................................................(423) 547-6441 | Website: .................................................... www.mlb.com ................................ /appalachian-league/elizabethton TW/IG:.......................................................@elzriverriders Facebook: .......................... Elizabethton River Riders League Championships.........1939, 1941, 1978, 1984, .................................... 1989, 1990, 2000, 2003, 2005, ....................................... 2007, 2008, 2012, 2017, 2018 Stadium...................................... Northeast Community .......................................................Credit Union Ballpark Stadium Built..............................................................1974 Stadium Capacity .................................................. 2,000 Stadium Dimensions (LF-CF-RF)............335-414-326

FRONT OFFICE STAFF

Operated By ................................................Boyd Sports President ........................................................Chris Allen Vice President...........................................Jeremy Boler General Manager ................................Brice Ballentine Assistant General Manager...................... May Mathis Head Groundskeeper .........................Hunter Hodges

GAME INFORMATION

PA Announcer ..............................Nic Miller Broadcast Announcer...............................................Spencer Cihak Broadcast Network.............................................. Online No. of Games Broadcast ..................... All 54 Games Official Scorer..................................... David Czarlinsky Standard Game Times ...........................Mon-Sat 6:30 ............................................................................. Sun 6:00 Newspaper..........................................Elizabethton Star

NOTABLE ALUMNI

Jesse Orosco.............................................................1978 Gary Gaetti.................................................................1979 Kent Hrbek.................................................................1979 Jim Eisenreich...........................................................1980 Jeff Reed.....................................................................1980 Kirby Puckett..............................................................1982 Jay Bell........................................................................1984 Rich Garces................................................................1988 Marty Cordova...........................................................1989 Denny Neagle ...........................................................1989 Danny Hocking ........................................................ 1990 Todd Ritchie.............................................................. 1990 Eddie Guardado.........................................................1991 LaTroy Hawkins.........................................................1992 Corey Koskie .............................................................1994 A.J. Pierzynski ...........................................................1995 Justin Morneau ........................................................ 2001 Joe Mauer ................................................................. 2001 Denard Span............................................................ 2003 Matt Garza................................................................ 2005 Brian Dozier............................................................. 2009 Miguel Sano................................................................2011 Byron Buxton.............................................................2012 Jorge Polanco ...........................................................2012 Max Kepler .................................................................2012

ABOUT

The most successful team in Appalachian League history with 14 championships, Elizabethton will look to keep that storied history alive as it transitions into a new identity as the River Riders this summer.

Surrounded by the Watauga and Doe Rivers and with Watauga Lake just miles away, Elizabethton has become a popular destination for aquatic recreation, including whitewater rafting, kayaking, and fishing.

The Watauga River, which runs parallel to the third-base line of Northeast Community Credit Union Ballpark, has some of the highest quality whitewater in the Southeast with Class I, II, and III rapids.

The drier surface of the baseball diamond has proven to be a little more predictable for Elizabethton over the years as the organization has won an Appy League-high 14 championships, including back-to-back titles in 2017-18. Most of that success came as an affiliate of the Minnesota Twins organization, a relationship that dated back to the 1974 campaign.

Alumni of the Elizabethton club include Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett, former Major Leaguers Gary Gaetti, Kent Hrbek, and Joe Mauer, as well as current big leaguers Byron Buxton, Miguel Sano, Jorge Polanco, and Max Kepler.

Manning the helm for the River Riders will be Kevin Riggs who brings over a decade of minor league coaching experience to the manager position. Assisting him will be pitching coach Josue Matos, hitting coach Jeremy Owens, and player development coach Justin Thomas.

COACHING STAFF

KEVIN RIGGS

MANAGER

Kevin Riggs brings over a decade of minor league coaching experience to the River Riders. Riggs coached in the Colorado Rockies minor league system from 2007-2014, including serving as manager of the Tulsa Drillers from 2013-2014, before moving to the Pittsburgh Pirates and Philadelphia Phillies organizations. Most recently with the Phillies, Riggs was part of the player development field staff as a minor league hitting coach for the Reading Fightin Phils from 2018-2019. Riggs led the Phils’ offense to a league-most 141 homeruns in his first season as the hitting coach and then built on that success in 2019. Under Riggs’ guidance, the 2019 team topped the league in home runs (119), triples (47), walks (503), and OPS (.704), and tied for the lead in slugging percentage (.386). Prior to his coaching career, Riggs was drafted in the 28th round by the Cincinnati Reds in 1990, playing for eight seasons in the minor leagues and one season overseas. Throughout his nine-year professional playing career, Riggs put together a .381 slugging percentage, 270 RBIs and 729 hits. JOSUE MATOS

PITCHING COACH

Josue Matos joins the Elizabethton staff as pitching coach after four seasons in the same role within the New York Mets organization. The Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, native was most recently a member of the High-A Brooklyn staff in 2019 when he helped lead the Cyclones to a New York-Penn League championship. He is also a veteran of the Appalachian League, having spent the 2017 and 2018 campaigns with Kingsport. Matos also coached with the 2016 Gulf Coast League Mets, was an assistant pitching coach for his hometown team in the 2015 and 2016 Puerto Rico Winter Leagues and previously served as pitching coach at Interamerican University of Puerto Rico from 2010-2013. Matos’ playing career consisted of eight seasons of minor league baseball, where he climbed as high as Triple-A, in addition to three years pitching at the independent level and stints across a variety of international leagues, including the Chinese Professional Baseball League in Taiwan, the Mexican League and the Puerto Rican and Venezuelan Winter Leagues. He was also selected to pitch for Puerto Rico in both the 2006 and 2009 World Baseball Classics as well as the 2008 Americas Baseball Cup. Matos attended Miami Dade College and was a 27th round selection by the Seattle Mariners in the 1996 MLB draft. JEREMY OWENS

HITTING COACH

Joining the River Riders as hitting coach this season will be Jeremy Owens. A native of nearby Johnson City, Owens arrives in Elizabethton with over two decades of playing and coaching experience at the professional level. The former outfielder was drafted in the eighth round of the 1998 draft out of MTSU by the San Diego Padres. He played five seasons in that organization, two with the Boston Red Sox and finished his affiliated career with the Tampa Bay Rays organization playing for the Montgomery Biscuits in 2006 and Durham Bulls in 2007. Owens continued his playing career with the independent Southern Maryland Blue Crabs from 2008-2014 before moving into the coaching ranks as the team’s manager in 2016. He spent the 2017 campaign with the independent New Jersey Jackals before returning to affiliated ball, coaching with the Low-A Bowling Green Hot Rods for two seasons. Owens was set to serve as an assistant coach for the Port Charlotte Stone Crabs in the Tampa Bay Rays organization in 2020 before the season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. JUSTIN THOMAS

PLAYER DEVELOPMENT

A successful head coach and a veteran of the summer collegiate circuit, Justin Thomas will be Elizabethton’s player development coach this season. Thomas is currently in his third year at the helm of the Bethany College squad in West Virginia where he has guided the Bison to some of the best seasons in program history, including an appearance in the 2019 Presidents’ Athletic Conference championship game. He previously led Voorhees College in South Carolina for four seasons and was the pitching coach at Penn State University - Greater Alleheny in 2012. Thomas has stayed busy in the summers as well, coaching in the Cal Ripken Collegiate League, Prospect League, New York Collegiate Baseball League, Ohio Valley Collegiate League, Myrtle Beach Collegiate League and Carolina-Virginia Collegiate League.