Miami Marlins Announce Beloit Snappers 2021 Coaching Staff

BELOIT, WI – The Miami Marlins announced their Minor League coaching staff assignments for the 2021 season today, including announcing former big league slugger Mike Jacobs as the manager of the Beloit Snappers.

Jacobs enters his fourth season as a Minor League manager following a seven-year career in the Major Leagues as a first baseman. He managed the Batavia Muckdogs, then the Marlins Class-A Short Season affiliate in 2017 and 2018, and the Clinton LumberKings in the Midwest League in 2019. Under his tutelage, the LumberKings reached the Midwest League finals in 2019. He was set to manage the Jupiter Hammerheads, then the Marlins High-A affiliate in 2020 prior to the cancelation of the season.

As a player, Jacobs made his Major League debut with the New York Mets during the 2005 season, becoming the first recorded player in Major League history to hit four home runs in his first four career games. Following the season, he was traded to the Florida Marlins as the centerpiece of a trade package for All-Star slugger Carlos Delgado. Over the next three seasons with the Marlins, Jacobs hit 69 home runs and drove in 224 runs, including hitting 32 home runs during the 2008 season. He finished his MLB career following stops with Kansas City and Arizona and an additional season with the Mets with 100 career home runs and a .253/.313/.473 slash line.

Jacobs will be joined in the dugout by another former Major Leaguer in pitching coach Bruce Walton.

Walton pitched four seasons at the Major League level from 1991 to 1994, appearing with Oakland, Montreal, and Colorado. In total, Walton played 11 seasons as a professional, including 10 in the Major and Minor Leagues and one with the then-independent St. Paul Saints.

Walton began his coaching career in 2002 as the bullpen coach for the Toronto Blue Jays, a position he held through 2009 before becoming the team’s pitching coach from 2010-2012. Walton served as the Triple-A Iowa Cubs pitching coach in 2014 and joined the Miami Marlins organization in 2018, serving as pitching coach for the Jupiter Hammerheads in 2018 and the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp in 2019.

Matt Snyder will begin his professional coaching career in 2021 as the hitting coach for the Snappers. A 10th round selection in 2012 MLB Draft by the New York Yankees, Snyder played professionally from 2012-2019, reaching Triple-A as a first baseman. Snyder played in the Yankees organization for six seasons and finished his playing career with the New Orleans Baby Cakes, then the Marlins Triple-A affiliate in 2019. A three-time All-Star in the Minor Leagues, Snyder hit .278 and reached base at an impressive .360 clip across 245 games in his playing career.

Chris Briones will serve as the defensive coach for the Snappers in 2021 after working as a catching coordinator with the Texas Rangers organization from 2012-2018. Prior to his coaching career, Briones played professionally from 1995-2003 including four seasons in the Minor Leagues in the Rangers and Padres farm systems and five seasons in independent baseball.

Joseph Miranda joins the Snappers as strength and conditioning coach. A graduate of Maryville College (Bachelor’s) and The George Washington University (Master’s), Miranda worked previously in the Colorado Rockies, Boston Red Sox, and Cincinnati organizations before joining the Marlins in 2021.

Melissa Hampton will be the athletic trainer for the Snappers in 2021. Hampton joined the Marlins organization in 2017 as a rehab athletic training assistant and became the athletic trainer for the team’s Gulf Coast League affiliate in 2018. In 2019, served in the same role with the Clinton LumberKings in the Midwest League. She holds a degree in athletic training from Southern Nazarene University and a Master’s Degree from Dallas Baptist University.

The Snappers will begin the 2021 season on May 4 on the road in Appleton against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers before playing their home opener on May 11 against the South Bend Cubs. The 2021 season will be the final season the team will play as the Snappers before adopting a new team name prior to the 2022 season, and the year marks the first for the team at the Advanced-A level of the Minor Leagues.