Shields Returns with Familiar Field Staff for 2024 Naturals Season
SPRINGDALE, Ark. – The Kansas City Royals have announced the 2024 field staff assignments for their minor league affiliates today – Wednesday, January 24, 2024 – with Tommy Shields returning for a second season as the field manager of the Northwest Arkansas Naturals. Shields, the seventh manager in Naturals history,
SPRINGDALE, Ark. – The Kansas City Royals have announced the 2024 field staff assignments for their minor league affiliates today – Wednesday, January 24, 2024 – with Tommy Shields returning for a second season as the field manager of the Northwest Arkansas Naturals. Shields, the seventh manager in Naturals history, will be joined by returning staff members Larry Carter, Andy LaRoche, *Kevin Kuntz,* and Danny Helmer along with newcomers Strength & Conditioning Coach Ted Elsner, Athletic Trainer Brad Groleau, Assistant Pitching Coach Sam Eades, Assistant Hitting Coach Chris Nelson, and Player Development Trainee Kyle Flanagan.
Shields, 59, returns to Northwest Arkansas after managing the club to a 64-74 record in the 2023 season, including a 35-34 record in the second half. Prior to last season, Shields served as the bench coach for the Triple-A Omaha Storm Chasers in 2022. This year will mark his 29th season of working in player development.
Shields is a former 15th-round selection by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1986 amateur draft out of the University of Notre Dame and he played in the Pirates’ system from 1986-1990. He was traded to the Baltimore Orioles in the spring of 1991 and made his major league debut a year later. Following his stint with Baltimore, he spent 1993-1994 with the Chicago Cubs and opened the 1993 season with the big league club.
After his playing career, Shields has been a coach, manager, scout, and player development coordinator in the Kansas City Royals, Baltimore Orioles, St. Louis Cardinals, Atlanta Braves, and Washington Nationals organizations. He currently resides in Lititz, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Melonni, and their four kids.
Larry Carter returns to the Naturals as the club’s pitching coach. “LC” was the NWA pitching coach in 2023, serving as the Major League Bullpen Coach for the Kansas City Royals from 2020-2022. This will be his 30th season as a coach, including a stint as the pitching coach for the Naturals from 2008-2012. In 2013-2014 he was the pitching coach for the Omaha Storm Chasers and was honored with the Dick Howser Award in 2014.
Andy LaRoche returns to Northwest Arkansas for a second season as the Naturals hitting coach and will be in his seventh season with the Royals. The former 39th round pick by Los Angeles in 2003 enjoyed a six-year big league career with the Dodgers (2007-2008), Pittsburgh (2008-2010), Oakland (2011), and Toronto (2013).
Kevin Kuntz is back for a second tour in Northwest Arkansas as an assistant coach after serving the same role with the team in 2023. Kuntz was selected by Kansas City in the 28th round of the 2013 First-Year Player Draft after playing four years at the University of Kansas.
Danny Helmer returns as the coordinator of clubhouse operations for the Naturals. He is entering his 27th season in various roles with the organization, first for the Wichita Wranglers (nine years) and then as the home clubhouse attendant in Northwest Arkansas (14 years), before he was promoted to the coordinator of clubhouse operations by Kansas City in 2021. Helmer was honored as a co-recipient of the Royals’ Matt Minker Award in 2019 and is a three-time winner of the Texas League Visiting Clubhouse Award (2008, 2014, & 2018). In 2023 Helmer was named the Texas League Home Clubhouse Attendant of the Year.
Brad Groleau, enters his sixth year with the Royals and was the athletic trainer for the Quad Cities River Bandits from 2021 & 2022 where he won the 2022 Midwest League Athletic Training Award, presented by the Professional Baseball Athletic Trainers Society. During the 2022 season he also served as an Athletic Trainer in the Arizona Fall League. Prior to his time with the Royals Groleau was a graduate assistant Athletic Trainer for the University of Nebraska Omaha and interned with the Omaha Storm Chasers. Brad has a master’s degree in Exercise Science from the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
Ted Elsner takes over as the team’s Strength and Conditioning coach for the 2023 season and is entering his third year with the Royals organization. A graduate of Concordia University – St. Paul, Elsner served as the Columbia Fireflies (Low-A) S&C coach in 2023 and spent the 2022 season with the AZL Royals. Prior to his time with Kansas City, he was Concordia University – St. Paul’s strength and conditioning coach and interned with Texas Christian University.
Sam Eades will serve as the Naturals Assistant Pitching Coach this season, his first with the Kansas City Royals. Prior to the Royals, he worked for Tread Athletics, a training facility in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Assistant Hitting Coach Chris Nelson rejoins Northwest Arkansas ahead of his seventh season with the Royals organization, having served as the Naturals Bench Coach in 2018. Nelson was taken with the ninth overall pick in the 2004 MLB Draft by the Colorado Rockies and played in 282 games over five years in the Majors.
Player Development Trainee Kyle Flanagan joins the Naturals in his second year with the Royals. He’s also worked for the Baltimore Orioles and Detroit Tigers.
The Northwest Arkansas Naturals will begin their 2024 regular season on Friday, April 5th with Opening Night against the Tulsa Drillers, the Double-A Affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers, at Arvest Ballpark. Season tickets, mini packs, individual tickets, and group tickets are now available at www.nwanaturals.com.
Nationals prospect King joins MiLB podcast
Check out the latest episodes of The Show Before the Show, MiLB.com's official podcast. A segment rundown is listed below, in case you want to skip to a particular section. Like the podcast? Subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts. The podcast is also available via Spotify, Megaphone and other
Here are the 2025 All-Spring Breakout Teams
Fifteen games, several jersey swaps and countless highlights later, the second edition of Spring Breakout has officially concluded – and it lived up to its billing. Of the 16 contests sprinkled across four days, only one game (Dodgers vs. Cubs) was rained out. Coincidentally, the Cubs were one of two
Rox young sluggers aim to bring pop back to Coors Field
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Coors Field may provide the best run-scoring environment in Major League Baseball, but the Rockies haven’t taken advantage of it in recent years. Even without adjusting for Coors, they have fielded offenses worse than the league average the past three seasons, and they scored the fewest runs
Astros brass sees potential in consistently 'underranked' farm system
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- The last time the Astros landed in the top 10 of MLB Pipeline’s farm system rankings was before the 2019 season. Since those rankings expanded to all 30 teams ahead of the 2020 season -- 11 lists in total -- they’ve never ranked higher than
Complete results and highlights from Spring Breakout
The second edition of MLB Spring Breakout is complete, and there was no shortage of highlights from the future stars of Major League Baseball over the four-day showcase. Here's a complete breakdown of the 16-game exhibition:
Southpaw Spring Breakout: White Sox future on display with Schultz, Smith
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- If all goes as planned for the White Sox, left-handers Hagen Smith and Noah Schultz won’t spend much time following each other to the mound in a single game. Schultz, the No. 1 White Sox prospect and No. 16 overall, per MLB Pipeline, and Smith, who is
In first pro game, Rainer offers pop, promise to Tigers fans
NORTH PORT, Fla. -- Bryce Rainer’s pro career consisted of workouts and batting practice until Sunday.
'Me and Brady on the dirt again': House, King reunite at Spring Breakout
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- The 2025 Spring Breakout was a flashback for Brady House and Seaver King. Over 10 years ago, the infielders were travel ball teammates in Georgia who shared the dream of making it to the Major Leagues. Now, they are top prospects in the same organization,
Lambert -- 'an adrenaline guy' -- hoping to be next Mets bullpen gem
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Ryan Lambert loves throwing hard. He relishes the idea of getting to two strikes and blowing hitters away. “Get me in a game,” Lambert said, “cool things will happen.”
Stewart embraces Spring Breakout: 'What's not to love?'
PHOENIX -- Sal Stewart was one fired-up Reds prospect. On Sunday in the first inning during the organization's 9-7 Spring Breakout win over Brewers prospects, Stewart lifted a 2-2 pitch that sailed over the center fielder's head to the wall. Already not known as a speedster, he stumbled running between
Prospect Peña quietly drawing raves in Brewers' farm system
PHOENIX – Jesús Made was at the top of the Brewers’ lineup for Sunday’s 9-7 loss to the Reds in the finale of MLB’s four-day Spring Breakout, a fitting perch when you consider that the 17-year-old infielder is under a bright spotlight as MLB Pipeline’s No. 55 prospect. Made could
Brecht -- in 1st outing since '24 Draft -- wows at Spring Breakout
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Sunday's Spring Breakout showcase was the perfect unveiling for Rockies No. 5 prospect Brody Brecht. A right-handed pitcher from the University of Iowa whom the Rockies selected 38th overall last summer, Brecht had a nice collegiate resume, an interesting backstory as a former wide receiver for the
Braves prospects show promise in Spring Breakout
NORTH PORT, Fla. -- As Terry Pendleton prepared to serve as the manager of the Braves prospect team that played the Tigers prospect team in a Spring Breakout game on Sunday afternoon, he said fans should be patient with John Gil and Luis Guanipa, a pair of teenagers who have
Yanks' Lagrange flashes triple-digit heat in Spring Breakout
SARASOTA, Fla. -- There was an audible “Ooh” from the crowd at Ed Smith Stadium, and Carlos Lagrange quickly glanced beyond the right-field wall, checking the velocity of the pitch he’d just thrown in Saturday’s 5-4 Spring Breakout loss to the Orioles. It had registered in the triple digits, and
Bradfield dedicates Spring Breakout performance to late friend
SARASOTA, Fla. -- It was about more than playing in the national spotlight. More than the dinner bet placed with an old college teammate earlier in the month. More than a game. As Enrique Bradfield Jr. slid home to score a run during the first inning of Saturday night’s Spring
'Hungry' Alcántara hoping to pounce on big league prey in '25
MESA, Ariz. -- The thing about jaguars is, you don’t want to see one when it’s hungry. So when Cubs legend Sammy Sosa spoke to the organization’s No. 6 prospect per MLB Pipeline -- and the No. 89 prospect overall -- the former slugger gave him some apt advice. “His
Rainiers broadcaster Pay talks historic role on MiLB podcast
Check out the latest episodes of The Show Before the Show, MiLB.com's official podcast. A segment rundown is listed below, in case you want to skip to a particular section. Like the podcast? Subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts. The podcast is also available via Spotify, Megaphone and other
Prospect Santos 'electric' in Spring Breakout start
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Malcolm Moore knew Winston Santos was locked in before he even threw a pitch. In the second annual Spring Breakout game, Santos -- the Rangers’ No. 5 prospect, per MLB Pipeline -- was throwing to Moore, the Rangers’ No. 4 prospect and highest-ranked catcher. The battery more
Switch-pitcher Cijntje deals from both sides in Spring Breakout
GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- Jurrangelo Cijntje knew who’d be waiting for him in the batter’s box when he emerged from the visiting bullpen on Friday evening. The Mariners’ switch-pitcher had seen Guardians infielder Travis Bazzana recently at a card-signing event, to which they each joked, “I’m going to see you soon,”
Fans in this Minor League town are hungry for ... the Spicy Meatballs?!?
Benjamin Hill travels the nation collecting stories about what makes Minor League Baseball unique. This excerpt from his newsletter is a mere taste of the smorgasbord of delights he offers every week. Read the full newsletter here, and subscribe to his newsletter here.
Chandler adds mix to upper-90s heat in stellar Spring Breakout start
CLEARWATER, Fla. -- In the inaugural Spring Breakout game a year ago, as he was coming out to pitch the ninth inning, Bubba Chandler slammed a Red Bull and declared “let’s do this” before pumping upper-90s heat.