Former St. Louis Cardinals minor-leaguer Chris Swauger, who played in the Midwest League in 2009, will manage the Peoria Chiefs in 2017.
Swauger will take the reins from Joe Kruzel, who became the winningest manager in Chiefs history during his three years as the team’s skipper. Kruzel is assigned to manage the State College Spikes, the short-season New York-Penn League affiliate of the Cardinals, next year.
Swauger managed the short-season Johnson City Cardinals the past two seasons. He led the team to a 39-29 record and the Appalachian League championship in 2016. He played in the minor leagues (all but eight games in the Cardinals organization) from 2008 to 2014, including 31 games with the 2009 Quad Cities River Bandits. The outfielder/first baseman batted .296 with 4 HR and 22 RBI in the Midwest League.
Dernier Orozco will return for his third consecutive season as Peoria’s pitching coach, while Donnie Ecker takes over as the team’s hitting coach. You can read more about them here.
