The California Winter League Announces the 1st round of coaches for the 2013 season. The coaches represent Independent Leagues from across the nation and are looking to sign players to play for them in 2013.

The Coaches are:

Tim Johnson

Tim is the former Blue Jays Manager and current manager of the  El Paso Diablos in the American Association. Johnson has spent many years in baseball including 7 years in the Major Leagues with the Milwaukee Brewers and Toronto Blue Jays.

Stan Cliburn

Stan is the manager of the Sioux City Explorers in the American association where he has been for the past 2 seasons. Cliburn has over twenty years of managing experience, including single and double A baseball in the Minnesota Twins organization.

Ricky VanAsselberg

Ricky is the manager of the Grand Prairie AirHogs in the American Association were he has been for the past 2 seasons and lead the AirHogs to their 1st championship in 2011. VanAsselberg also lead the Shreveport-Bossier Captains of the American Association to a championship the year before in 2010.

Pete Incaviglia

Pete comes to the California Winter League from the Laredo Lemurs of the American Association where he will be in his 1st season as the Lemurs manager in 2013. Incaviglia was manager of the Grand Prairie AirHogs from 2008-10 and led them to the American Association Championship Series in his first year.

Bobby Brown

Bobby is the manager of the Abilene Prairie Dogs of the United League.Brown has been involved in professional baseball for 16 years as a player, coach, scout and manager. His life in pro baseball began in 1996 as a player in the independent Frontier League.  The following year he played for the Kansas City Royals Class Low A affiliate Spokane Indians of the Northwest League.

Chuck Stewart

Chuck comes the the California Winter League from the CanAm League were he is the manger of the Newark Bears. The Bears’ manager spent four seasons as a catcher in the Cubs’ organization from 1982-85.

Mac Suzuki

Mac became the first Japanese player to enter the major leagues without having first played in the Japanese professional leagues. He has played for the Seattle Mariners, Kansas City Royals, Colorado Rockies and Milwaukee Brewers. His debut with the Mariners cast him as only the third Japanese player to play in the major leagues and the first Japanese player to pitch in the American League.

John Harris

John Harris is in his second season as manager of the Amarillo Sox. Harris, 58, managed the Coastal Bend Aviators in the American Association from 2006-2007. Harris was drafted in the 29th round by the California Angels and played professionally for nine years, spending three years in the major leagues with the Angels from 1979 to 1981.

Dan DiPace

Dan Dipace is the Team President for the Orange County Flyers of the American West Baseball League.  DiPace signed as a shortstop  for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1963. He went on to win a league championship with the West Carolina League in 1964 and in 1965 was the first player selected in the first Minor League Draft by the Minnesota Twins.

Harry Gurley

Harry Gurley has built a very distinguished coaching and scouting career at all levels including professional, collegiate and high school. Most recently Gurley was the pitching coach at Ohio State University for the 2006 & 2007 seasons. During that time, OSU led the Big Ten Conference in team ERA and had its first 10-game winner since 1999.

To view a more detailed description of the coaches click here