Nashville Sounds 2024 Coaching Staff Announced by Milwaukee Brewers

NASHVILLE – The Milwaukee Brewers announced today the Nashville Sounds coaching staff for the 2024 season. The staff is led by manager Rick Sweet who returns for his fifth season and fourth consecutive with Nashville.

Sweet will be joined by pitching coach Jeremy Accardo, hitting coaches Al LeBoeuf and Eric Theisen, bench coach David Tufo, coach Ned Yost IV, bullpen coach Patrick McGuff, athletic trainer Jeff Paxson, assistant athletic trainer Benny Arroyo, strength and conditioning specialist Andrew Emmick and assistant strength and conditioning specialist Garrett Plumlee.

Sweet, 71, returns after becoming Nashville’s winningest manager in club history to end last season. He guided Nashville to their third-consecutive winning season with an 83-65 record. The 2024 season represents his 11^th year managing in the Milwaukee Brewers organization. In four seasons managing Nashville (2014, 2021-23), Sweet has compiled a 321-248 record. In 2022, Sweet was honored with the Mike Coolbaugh Award and International League Manager of the Year.

Sweet has served as Milwaukee’s Triple-A manager for the previous nine seasons. He has posted a 683-583 (.539) record during that timeframe. In 33 years as a minor league manager, Sweet has a 2,275-2,103 (.520) record. His 2,275 wins are the fifth-most all time in Minor League Baseball history and second-most among active managers.

A former catcher, Sweet had a nine-year playing career (1975-83), including time in the big leagues with San Diego (1978), New York-NL (1982) and Seattle (1982-83). He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 31^st round of the 1974 MLB Amateur Draft but did not sign, and by the San Diego Padres in the 3^rd round of the 1975 MLB January Draft. He attended and played college baseball at Gonzaga University from 1973-75.

Accardo, 42, returns for his third season as Nashville’s pitching coach. Under Accardo’s guidance, the Sounds pitching staff has boasted the lowest ERA in Triple-A in 2023 and the second-lowest in 2022.

The eight-year Major League veteran pitched for San Francisco (2005-06), Toronto (2006-10), Baltimore (2011), Cleveland (2012) and Oakland (2012). Accardo pitched in 262 games big league games. Prior to joining the Milwaukee organization, Accardo served as the assistant pitching coach for the New York Mets during the 2020 and 2021 seasons.

LeBoeuf, 63, returns to Nashville for the fourth consecutive season as the team’s hitting coach. He also held the same position with the Sounds for the 2012 campaign. LeBoeuf has helped develop all of the homegrown Brewers bats in recent years including 2022 Sounds such as Brice Turang, Sal Frelick, Joey Wiemer and Andruw Monasterio.

2024 is LeBoeuf’s 37^th as a coach in professional baseball. He has previously held positions within the Brewers organization at Double-A Huntsville (2010-11), Nashville (2012), Single-A Wisconsin (2016), Triple-A Colorado Springs (2017), Double-A Biloxi (2018) and Triple-A San Antonio (2019).

LeBoeuf played eight professional seasons in the Philadelphia organization from 1981-88. He was drafted in the 28^th round of the 1981 June Amateur Draft out of Eastern Connecticut State University.

Theisen, 39, joins LeBoeuf with hitting coach duties, his first season as a coach in Nashville and fourth in the Brewers organization. He will also continue to serve as an assistant hitting coordinator as part of the Brewers player development staff, a position he has held the previous two seasons. In 2021, he was the hitting coach for Single-A Carolina.

Prior to his time with Milwaukee, Theisen was the head coach for Hillsdale College from 2013-2021. He led the Chargers to their first two NCAA Division II tournament appearances in 2016 and 2018 and their first conference title in 2018. He served as an assistant coach at Hillsdale from 2011-13.

Theisen pitched professionally in parts of the 2009 season with the independent Traverse City Beach Bums and in Belgium with the Brussels Kangaroos. He attended Illinois State University and pitched for the Redbirds from 2005-08.

Tufo, 37, joins the Sounds staff as bench coach after serving in the same role for Single-A Wisconsin last season. He came to the Milwaukee system as a coach in 2020 and was the manager for the Arizona Complex League Brewers Gold affiliate from 2021-22. Tufo went 59-45 as a manager. He was an assistant coach with the University of Portland from 2017-19 and with Menlo College in Atherton, Calif., from 2010-16.

Yost IV, 41, returns for his fourth consecutive season as a coach for the Sounds. The 2024 season is his 17^th year in the Brewers organization. He played in Milwaukee’s minor league system from 2005-07 and has held various coaching roles since 2008, including short-season Helena (2008-11), Advanced-A Brevard County (2012-16), Triple-A Colorado Springs (2017-18) and Triple-A San Antonio (2019).

McGuff, 29, returns as Nashville’s bullpen coach after serving in the same role in 2023. In his third season with the Brewers organization, McGuff was a development coach with Single-A Wisconsin in 2022. He served as an assistant coach with USC Upstate from 2019-22.

The former Morehead State standout played four seasons of professional baseball. He was drafted in the 36^th round of the 2016 draft by the Twins and played in the Reds (2018) and Diamondbacks (2019) organizations.

Paxson, 54, returns to the Sounds as the team’s athletic trainer after spending 2022 in the same role. Paxson was also Nashville’s athletic trainer for five years from 2005-2009. This is his 29^th season in the Brewers organization. Paxson was named the International League Athletic Trainer of the Year for his work with the Sounds last season.

Arroyo, 31, comes to Nashville after serving as the athletic trainer for Single-A Wisconsin in 2023. He has also had stops as the athletic trainer with the Dominican Summer League Brewers (2017-18), Arizona Summer League Brewers (2019-20), Milwaukee Brewers (2021) and Carolina Mudcats (2022).

Emmick, 42, also returns to Nashville as the team’s strength and conditioning specialist for the fourth straight season. Emmick spent five seasons with the Sounds from 2010-14 during the previous Milwaukee affiliation. The Kentucky native enters his 16^th year in the Brewers organization.

Plumlee, 27, joins the Brewers organization and Nashville as the team’s assistant strength and conditioning specialist. He most recently was a human performance grad assistant at Texas Christian University in 2023.

The Nashville Sounds are the Triple-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers and play at First Horizon Park. The 2024 home opener against the St. Paul Saints is Tuesday, April 2. Season ticket memberships are available now. For more information call 615-690-4487 or e-mail [email protected].