Chad Comer Tabbed as First Spartanburgers’ Skipper

Spartanburg, SC- The Texas Rangers have announced the field staffs for each of their minor league affiliates, including the first ever coaching staff for their newest High-A club, the Hub City Spartanburgers.

Chad Comer will take the reigns as manager for the Spartanburgers in their inaugural season. Comer has spent the past two seasons in Hickory, NC, heading the Rangers’ High-A Hickory Crawdads team. He was named the South Atlantic League’s Manager of the Year in 2023, leading the club to a second half division title, and was the Rangers’ Bobby Jones Player Development Award Winner in his first season as a manager.

Comer first joined the Rangers’ system in 2015, serving as an infield coach in Hickory before heading to the Dominican Summer League Rangers from 2016-2018. He returned stateside to be a hitting coach with the Arizona League Rangers in 2019. Comer left the Rangers organization in 2020 to serve as the hitting coach for his Alma Mata, the University of Texas at Arlington. He returned to the Rangers in 2021 as the Hickory hitting coach. In 2022, he was a development coach for the Double-A Frisco RoughRiders. Comer, a catcher, was drafted by the Braves in 2011 and played two seasons in their system

Julio Valdez will lead the Spartanburg pitching staff in 2025. Valdez enters his fifth season with the Rangers organization, most recently working as the pitching coach for Hickory last season. Valdez previously has served in the same role for Down East (Low-A), the Arizona Complex League (2022) and the Dominican Summer League Rangers (2020-2021). Valdez started his coaching career with his alma mater, Alabama State, in 2017 before becoming the Director of Pitching at the Texas Pitching Institute in El Paso. He spent two years at TPI before taking the same role at Baseball Rebellion in Durham, his final stop before joining the Rangers organization.

Leading the Hub City hitters will be Drew Sannes, who returns to his role as the Rangers’ High-A hitting coach. Sannes spent the previous two seasons as the hitting coach for Hickory after joining the organization in 2022 to be a developmental coach for the Arizona League Rangers. He came to the Rangers after serving as the head coach at North Iowa Area Community College in 2021. He originally joined that program as an assistant coach in 2019 and was promoted to interim head coach at age 24 in 2020 before his interim tag was removed for 2021.

Jay Sullenger will serve as a development coach. He enters his sixth season with the Rangers, spending the last three in the same role for Hickory. Following the 2020 season’s cancellation, Sullenger coached in the Fall Developmental League. In 2021, he managed the Arizona Rangers before joining the Hickory staff for the 2022 season. Prior to joining the organization, he headed up the Biola University (a NCAA Division II school in La Mirada, CA) baseball program for six seasons. Following college, he spent a year with the Tampa Bay Rays working with their facility and event management department. He then joined the coaching staff at James Madison University, spending eleven seasons in various coaching roles.

Elevys Gonzalez will also take a development coach role for Hub City. Gonzalez began his Rangers coaching career in the Dominican Summer League as a hitting coach in 2020. He served as manager of the DSL Rangers for the 2022 and 2023 seasons before coming stateside, where he began last season as a development coach for the Arizona Complex League. He joined Comer’s staff in Hickory mid-season in 2024.

Kiley Brown will be the athletic trainer for the Spartanburgers. Brown spent his debut season with the Rangers in 2024 as a trainer in the Arizona Complex League. He previously completed an athletic trainer internship with the baseball team for the University of Texas. Brown also spent time as a student athletic trainer at Slinger High School and Carroll University, from which he holds a master’s degree in athletic training.

Bryce Gist will serve as the strength and conditioning coach. Gist is another member of Comer’s 2024 Hickory staff that will join him in Spartanburg. No stranger to South Carolina, Gist joined the Rangers organization from Clemson, where he served as a Strength and Conditioning graduate assistant from August 2022 through the end of 2023. He also completed internships with the athletic departments at the University of Texas, Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, TX, and Texas Tech University.

Pete Stasio will be the Spartanburger’s clubhouse manager. Stasio has spent the past three seasons in Hickory and was selected as the South Atlantic League’s Clubhouse Manager of the Year for the 2024 season. Stasio joined the Rangers’ organization after previously serving as the clubbie for the Asheville Tourists.

The Hub City Spartanburgers, the High-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers, will embark on their inaugural season starting in April 2025. The Spartanburgers will kick off the season in Aberdeen, MD for a three-game series, April 4-6, and then to Wilmington, DE for a 6-game series, April 8-13, before returning to Spartanburg to open Fifth Third Park on April 15th, 2025.

Hub City Spartanburgers’ Season Ticket Memberships and Group Tickets opportunities are available now and interested parties can learn more by emailing [email protected] or by calling 864-658-4210. Fans should expect limited ticket inventory for all games throughout the 2025 season.