St. Louis Cardinals Minor League Coaching Staffs Decided, Ron Warner Returns to Manage Double-A Cards - National League

MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com - The St. Louis Cardinals have announced their minor league coaching staffs for the upcoming 2008 season.  Returning to Springfield for his second year as skipper, will be Manager Ron “Pop” Warner.  Warner will be joined by Hitting Coach Derrick May, Pitching Coach Bryan Eversgerd and Athletic Trainer Jay Pierson.  Warner led the 2007 edition of the Springfield Cardinals to their first Texas League Championship Series appearance, winning both the First Half and Second Half North Division titles in only his first year as Springfield Manager. Back for his second year as Hitting Coach will be Derrick May, who begins his fourth year as a coach in the St. Louis minor league system. Both Eversgerd and Pierson will be new additions to the Springfield staff.  Springfield’s only Pitching Coach in franchise history, Blaise Ilsley, was promoted to Pitching Coach for the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds.  Eversgerd, 39, has served in the same capacity for the Cardinals’ Midwest League affiliate for the last four seasons.  He began coaching in the Cardinals’ system back in 2001, but stepped away from baseball for two years in 2002 and 2003.  The Hoffman, Ill. resident originally signed with St. Louis back in 1989 as a nondrafted free agent, making his Major League debut with the Redbirds on April 26th, 1994.  He also pitched in the big leagues with Montreal and Texas.  Pierson takes over for Brad LaRosa, who joined the Oakland A’s Triple-A affiliate, the Sacramento RiverCats.  Pierson, 28, has spent the last four seasons as an Athletic Trainer in the Detroit Tigers’ system, spending the last two with the West Michigan Whitecaps of the Midwest League.  The Texas native received a bachelor of science degree in school health, as well as a master’s degree in sports physiology from Texas A&M University.