San Jose Giants Manager Lenn Sakata Back for 3rd Season, Coaches Jim Bennett and Garret Nago Also Return - California League

MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com - SAN JOSE , CALIF January 31, 2007 – The San Jose Giants announced their 2007 Field Staff today, with Lenn Sakata returning as Manager, leading the team for his third consecutive year. Jim Bennett returns as Pitching Coach with Garrett Nago continuing to serve as Hitting Coach and Yukiya Oba as the team’s Athletic Trainer.

Lenn Sakata returns for his ninth year in the Giants organization and his sixth season at the helm of the San Jose Giants. Lenn has guided the team to the playoffs in all five seasons as manager in San Jose, including a California League Championship in 2005. The team posted an 82-58 regular season record in 2006, the top in the California League. Sakata became the winningest Manager in San Jose Giants history with his 393^rd win last season, including most winning half-seasons by a SJ Manager with a total of 10. Other roles in the Giants organization saw him manage Triple-A Fresno in 2002 and serve as the roving hitting instructor in 2003. In 2001, he led San Jose to a 77-63 regular season record and the California League co-Championship (playoffs were cancelled due to 9/11 attack). Prior to joining the Giants farm system, Sakata was an 11-year Major League veteran playing with the Milwaukee Brewers (1977-79), Baltimore Orioles (1980-85), Oakland Athletics(1986), and the New York Yankees (1986-1987). The former infielder appeared in 565 career games and was a member if the 1983 World Champion Baltimore Orioles.

Jim Bennett returns for his second season as Pitching Coach for the San Jose Giants. Bennett helped San Jose lead the California League in ERA, with a 3.85 in 2006. Previously he was with Rookie-Level Peoria (San Diego Padres) in 2005 following four seasons with the Colorado Rockies, all as a minor league Pitching Coach. He began his coaching career in 1992 with Lethbridge of the Rookie-level Pioneer League. In 1993, he began a six-year stint as Pitching Coach in the California/Anaheim system, making stops at Rookie-Level Mesa (1993-94), Short-A Boise (1995-96), Single-A Lake Elsinore (1997) and Single-A Cedar Rapids. He served a one-year stint with Oakland’s Single-A Visalia affiliate in 2000 before joining the Colorado Rockies organization in 2001. He went on to coach Colorado farmhands at Short-A Tri-City in 2001, Single-A Asheville in 2002 and Single-A Visalia in 2003-04. Bennett pitched four seasons as a professional, concluding his career in Florence, Italy.

Garret Nago returns for his second season as Hitting Coach for the San Jose Giants. Nago was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 8th round of the 1979 Winter Draft and the 2nd round of the 1980 Summer Draft before signing in 1981. Nago played nine seasons in the minor leagues for Milwaukee and Montreal before finishing his playing career as a player/coach with the Houston Astros in 1989. After playing overseas in Italy, Nago returned to his hometown of Pearl City, Hawaii and coached three high school teams before serving as a coach in the American Legion League from 1994-97, where he guided his team to a World Series title in 1995. Since 1998, Nago has been coaching clinics and summer baseball.

Yukiya Oba returns to San Jose for his second season as Athletic Trainer, and his third season working within the Giants Organization. Oba began his career as a Certified Athletic Trainer Intern in the San Francisco organization during the 2003-2004 seasons. Most recently, Oba was a Graduate Assistant Athletic Trainer at the University of Hawaii, Monoa.