Page 228 - 2026 Los Angeles Angels Media Guide

Minor League Managers
M inor L eague Managers
2026 PLAYER DEVELOPMENT

JOE KRUZEL DOUBLE-A ROCKET CITY

MANAGERIAL AND COACHING SUMMARY
◆ Kruzel enters first season as Double-A Rocket City’s manager in 2026 following
four seasons as Angels Field Coordinator.
◆ Previously, he was part of the Cardinals minor league staff for 13 seasons,
including as Manager for Double-A Springfield in the Cardinals system in 2019, and
eight years (2013-20) as a Manager and five years as a Hitting Coach for Single-A Quad
Cities and Batavia.
◆ Prior to his time with the Cardinals, spent two years (2006-07) with Cincinnati as the Hitting Coach for the
Gulf Coast League Reds and as the Manager at Rookie-level Billings.
◆ A veteran collegiate coach, Kruzel served as the Assistant Baseball Coach at Miami (Ohio) University in
2005 and spent 15 seasons (1989-2003) at the University of Toledo as the Assistant Baseball Coach and
Head Coach...He was named Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year in 1999 and reached playoffs
twice (1996 & 1999).
PLAYING CAREER & MISC
◆ Played second base at Toledo from 1985-88...Was elected into the Toledo City Athletic League Hall of Fame
in 2018 and the Toledo Central Catholic High School Hall of Fame in April 2020.
KRUZEL’S MANAGERIAL RECORD
PLAYER
DEVELOPMENT
Year Club League Won Lost Pct. Finish
2007 Billings Pioneer 37 38 .493 3rd
2013 Johnson City Appalachian 36 31 .537 4th
2014 Peoria Midwest 72 67 .518 3rd
2015 Peoria Midwest 75 63 .543 4th*
2016 Peoria Midwest 73 66 .525 3rd*
2017 State College New York-Penn 40 35 .533 2nd
2018 State College New York-Penn 36 40 .474 4th
2019 Springfield Texas 60 80 .429 3rd
2021 Billings (Ind.) Pioneer 44 52 .458 3rd
TOTALS (8 MiLB seasons) 429 420 .505
*Reached playoffs
ROBERT O. FISHEL AWARD
The Robert O. Fishel Award, named after the longtime baseball executive, goes to the “active, non-uniformed
representative of MLB whose ethics, character, dedication, service, professionalism and humanitarianism best represent
the standards propounded by Robert O. Fishel.” Fishel, an executive with the Cleveland Indians, St. Louis Browns, New
York Yankees and A.L. Office, was the inaugural Award winner in 1981. All-time honorees are:
1981 – Robert O. Fishel, American League 2004 – Jeff Idelson, Baseball Hall of Fame
1982 – Robert W. Brown, Baltimore Orioles 2005 – Randy Adamack, Seattle Mariners
1983 – Larry Shenk, Philadelphia Phillies 2006 – Rob Butcher, Cincinnati Reds
1984 – Arthur E. (Red) Patterson, Angels 2007 – Richard Levin, Major League Baseball
1985 – Jim Ferguson, Cincinnati Reds 2008 – Scott Reifert, Chicago White Sox
1986 – Fred Claire, Los Angeles Dodgers 2009 – Pat Courtney, Major League Baseball
1987 – Jim Toomey, St. Louis Cardinals 2010 – Jay Alves, Colorado Rockies
1988 – Tom Mee, Minnesota Twins 2011 – Jim Trdinich, Pittsburgh Pirates
1989 – Donald Davidson, Houston Astros 2012 – Staci Slaughter, San Francisco Giants
1990 – Ned Colletti, Chicago Cubs 2013 – Tim Hevly, Seattle Mariners
1991 – Phyllis K. Merhige, American League 2014 – Jason Zillo, New York Yankees
1992 – Richard Griffin, Montreal Expos 2015 – Brian Bartow, St. Louis Cardinals
1993 – John Blake, Texas Rangers 2016 – Bart Swain, Cleveland Indians
1994 – Katy Feeney, National League 2017 – Gene Dias, Houston Astros
1995 – Howard Starkman, Toronto Blue Jays 2018 – Josh Rawitch, Arizona Diamondbacks
1996 – Bill Guilfoile, Baseball Hall of Fame 2019 – Tyler Barnes, Milwaukee Brewers
1997 – Dick Bresciani, Boston Red Sox 2020 – Dustin Morse, Minnesota Twins
1998 – Jay Horwitz, New York Mets 2021 – Mike Teevan, Major League Baseball
1999 – Bob DiBiaso, Cleveland Indians 2022 – Kevin Gregg, Philadelphia Phillies
2000 – Tim Mead, Angels 2023 – Rich Rice, Texas Rangers
2001 – Rob Matwick, Houston Astros 2024 – John Blundell, Major League Baseball
2002 – Mike Swanson, Arizona Diamondbacks 2025 – Matt Chisholm, San Francisco Giants
2003 – Rick Vaughn, Tampa Bay Devil Rays
20 26 A ngels
2026 Angels
MEDIA GUIDE
262