PETE INCAVIGLIA NAMED MANAGER OF CLEBURNE RAILROADERS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, November 8, 2023
Rudy Jaramillo (hitting coach) and Brooks Carey (pitching coach) among additional coaching hires
CLEBURNE, Texas – The Cleburne Railroaders today announced that Pete Incaviglia has been named the club’s manager. The team has also named Rudy Jaramillo (hitting coach) and Brooks Carey (pitching coach) to the staff for the 2024 season.
“The Railroaders are excited to welcome Pete Incaviglia, Rudy Jaramillo, and Brooks Carey to the team’s coaching staff,” said Tom Vander Veen, Managing Member of Railroaders Baseball Partners LLC. “This group carries an immense amount of experience that we know will be a huge benefit to our players as they move forward in their careers. We can’t wait to see them on the field in 2024 as they usher in a new era of Railroaders baseball.”
Incaviglia has more than 35 years of experience in professional baseball, including a 12-year Major League career that began with the Texas Rangers (1986-90). He had a successful tenure with the Rangers to start his career, hitting 20+ home runs in each of his five seasons with the club. He finished with 206 career home runs in his MLB tenure from 1986-98.
“I am incredibly grateful to be named the next manager of the Cleburne Railroaders,” Incaviglia said. “I could not be more excited to return to the state of Texas, which has played an important role in my baseball career. I look forward to connecting with the Cleburne community and can’t wait to build on the success that the team has had in recent seasons.”
The 59-year-old joins the Railroaders after spending the last three seasons with the Tri-City ValleyCats of the Frontier League. The ValleyCats posted a 159-127 record under Incaviglia, the most wins by any manager in the team’s 21-year history. The ValleyCats posted a franchise-record 55 wins in 2023.
Under Incaviglia’s guidance, the ValleyCats saw 15 players return to Major League organizations through contract purchases or the draft. That includes pitcher Kumar Rocker, who pitched for Tri-City in 2022 before being selected by the Texas Rangers with the third overall pick in the 2022 MLB Draft.
Incaviglia has held many coaching and managing positions at the professional level, including winning championships as a manager with the Sugar Land Skeeters (2018, Atlantic League) and Laredo Lemurs (2015, American Association). He has previously managed in the DFW area, as he was named manager of the Grand Prairie AirHogs for their inaugural season in 2007. Incaviglia was named NCAA Player of the Century after a standout career at Oklahoma State University. The slugger owns the college baseball record for home runs in a career (100) and single season (48).
Jaramillo is a longtime hitting instructor that spent more than two decades as a Major League hitting coach with the Houston Astros (1990-93), Texas Rangers (1995-2009), and Chicago Cubs (2010-12). He presided over some of the Rangers’ top offensive teams in franchise history during that period. Jaramillo was inducted into the Texas Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003.
Carey joins the Railroaders after spending the 2023 season on Incaviglia’s staff as pitching coach for the Tri-City ValleyCats. He spent the previous four seasons as manager of the New Jersey Jackals, winning the 2019 Can-Am League championship.
The Cleburne Railroaders have advanced to the postseason in each of the last three seasons while competing in the independent American Association, an official partner league of MLB. The Railroaders joined the American Association as an expansion franchise in 2017 and play their home games at La Moderna Field in Cleburne, Texas. The team announced its 2024 season schedule on Tuesday. For more information, visit www.ilovetexasbaseball.com and www.aabaseball.com.
MEET AND GREET: Pete Incaviglia, Rudy Jaramillo, and Brooks Carey will take part in a public meet and greet at La Moderna Field on Wednesday, November 15 at 6 pm CT. Fans are invited to attend and spend time with the new members of the Railroaders’ coaching staff.
Contacts: Matt Mallian, REV Entertainment: mmallian@reventertainment.com