Billings completed their staff when the Reds hired Julio Garcia to be the manager and Tony Jaramillo to be the hitting coach for the Mustangs. Jaramillo is taking the spot vacated by Aaron Holbert who is going to be the manager of the Lake County Captians in the Indians system. Tom Browning was already on board as the teams pitching coach.
The Billings Gazette has a story on Garcia and the other coaches. Here are some of the highlights of what they say:
Garcia, 47, spent the last two years as the Latin American field coordinator for the Chicago Cubs. In 2005, he managed the Peoria Chiefs of the Midwest League and from 2001 to 2004 he managed Lansing, winning the Midwest League championship in 2003.
In his 13 seasons as a minor league manager, Garcia has a 621-655 record. In addition to managing the Mustangs, Garcia will also serve as a special assistant to Terry Reynolds, the Reds director of player development.
While he doesn’t have a winning record, winning isn’t always the most important thing when it comes to minor league development. I am curious as to what the title of ’special assistant’ to Terry Reynolds implies. With his past ties in the Latin America community with the Cubs, I wonder if that is part of his ’special assistance’ to Reynolds before he gets on the job in Billings.
In other Billings news, their old stadium has been torn down (check the link for a nice photo gallery). The new stadium is currently under construction and you can check out the current progress by viewing the photo gallery here on Billingsmustangs.com.