The Salem Red Sox, in conjunction with the Boston Red Sox, have announced their coaching staff for the 2024 Carolina League season, including five returning staff members.
Leading the Salem Red Sox is manager Liam Carroll, who returns for his second season with the team. Prior to last season, Carroll worked with Great Britain’s national baseball teams. Carroll has been involved with Great Britain Baseball since 1996 and joined the coaching staff in 2004, before being named Head Coach in 2008. Carroll also served on Great Britain’s coaching staff for the 2023 World Baseball Classic.
Nelson “Pepe” Paulino returns as the hitting coach for his 27th season with the Red Sox organization. Paulino brings extensive experience spending seven seasons in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Additional Red Sox MiLB stints include the Greenville Drive and former Lowell Spinners.
Juan Rivera returns for his third season with Salem as pitching coach after previously serving as the development coach. Rivera hopes to build upon last year when Salem finished top 10 in ERA, hits allowed, and home runs allowed across Single-A.
River Turtle to coach Tri-State
The Appalachian League’s newest team, the soon-to-be-named Tri-State baseball team in Huntington, W.Va., has announced former Major League outfielder/first baseman Tommy Gregg as manager for their inaugural 2024 season.
As the first manager in Tri-State’s history, Gregg brings more than 35 years of professional experience as a player and coach to the organization. He spent the 2023 season as a coach for the Pulaski River Turtles in the Appy League.
The Appalachian League announced in November that Marshall University, in Huntington, W.Va., would host an Appy League team beginning with the 2024 season.
The Pittsburgh Pirates selected Gregg in the seventh round of the 1985 MLB Draft out of Wake Forest, and he made his big league debut with the organization during the 1987 season. Gregg played nine seasons in the Major Leagues as a member of the Pirates (1987-88), Atlanta Braves (1988-92, 1997), Cincinnati Reds (1993) and Miami Marlins (1995). He hit .255 over 226 games with Atlanta during the 1989-90 seasons and finished his career with a .243 average in 446 games.
Gregg transitioned into a coaching role with Atlanta after retirement, holding positions with the Single-A Macon Braves (1999-2000) and Myrtle Beach Pelicans (2001). He spent five years (2002-06) on the St. Louis Cardinals’ Triple-A Memphis Redbirds coaching staff before joining the Royals organization for the next decade. With Kansas City, Gregg served as a coach for Single-A Wichita (2007), Double-A Northwest Arkansas (2008) and Triple-A Omaha (2009-17). He joined the Marlins in 2018, coaching Miami’s Triple-A New Orleans affiliate for two seasons.
Former keeper to Hokie staff
Head coach Mike Brizendine announced the addition of assistant coach Kyle Renfro to the Virginia Tech men’s soccer program on Monday.
Renfro, a 2013 graduate of Virginia Tech, returns to Blacksburg after a five-season stint as an assistant coach at Duke. With the Blue Devils, he worked with goalkeepers and oversaw the program’s recruiting efforts.
While Renfro directed the goalkeeper unit, Duke’s Will Pulisic, Eliot Hamill and Julian Eyestone went on to have All-ACC seasons. Pulisic was a two-time All-ACC selection, while Hamill had an All-American 2022 campaign that saw him garner the ACC Goalkeeper of Year award. In 2023, Eyestone burst onto the scene with an All-ACC second team rookie season before making the jump to the professional ranks in December.
Renfro served in a volunteer assistant role at Virginia Tech during the 2018 season, in a year that saw the Hokies reach the ‘Sweet 16’ while holding a ranking as high as 14th in the country.
Staff report