JUNE 8, 2005
BOB ZIADIE
KING'S BASEBALL COACH GREELEY SET TO REJOIN BALTIMORE ORIOLES
WILKES-BARRE -- King's College baseball coach Jerry Greeley will return
to the Baltimore Orioles minor league system when he reports to
Bluefield, WV to serve as a coach for the Bluefield Orioles of the
Appalachian League.
Greeley, who enters his eighth year as a professional coach in Major
League Baseball's minor league system, returns to the Orioles after
spending two years as a minor league coach with the Cincinnati Reds.
This will be Greeley's second stint in the Baltimore organization as he
spent 1997-98 in Bluefield and 1999-2001 with the Orioles' entry in the
Gulf Coast League.
On June 11, he will depart for mini-camp with the Orioles 2005 draft
choices in Sarasota, Fl., then report to Bluefield on June 18 to help
prepare for the team's 68-game schedule that begins on June 21.
"I left Baltimore after the 2001 season because the new farm director at
the time decided all minor league coaches had to be full time and that
would have been very difficult for me with my family commitments,"
Greeley recalled. "I am very honored to have the opportunity to return
to such a quality player development department and look forward to
helping the Orioles' young players on their first step up the
professional baseball ladder."
In his most recent minor league assignments, Greeley was in Montana with
the Cincinnati Reds Class "A" Billings Mustangs in 2002, and the team's
Sarasota entry of the Gulf Coast League in 2003. Greeley bypassed the
opportunity to return to Montana in 2004 due to the heavy travel
schedule and significant time he would have spent away from his wife
Robin, daughter Lisa (5), and son J.D. (2).
"I am very excited because this is a great opportunity for me to pick up
things major league organizations are doing and incorporate them into
our program at King's," Greeley added. "The Appalachian League also has
a super schedule that will allow me to do the most important thing - to
have my family with me for a good portion of the summer. I am very
appreciative of the opportunity the Reds' organization gave me during
2002 and 2003, but it was very difficult to take my family to Montana
with the tough travel schedule of the Pioneer League."
At King's, Greeley has led the Monarchs two back-to-back MAC Freedom
Conference playoff berths in his three years at the helm. He piloted
King's to a school-record 24 wins and the Eastern College Athletic
Conference Southern Region Tournament in 2005. The Monarchs finished in
second-place in the Freedom Conference regular-season standings in 2004
and 2005.
He will enter his fourth year as King's head coach when he returns to
run the Monarchs' fall program in September. He is a 1989 graduate of
East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania.
