Boomers coach opens season under familiar regime
At the newly renamed Schaumburg Baseball Stadium, nearly everything has a brand-new feel to it, from the re-sodded field to a new high-definition video board to a first-time managers.
But as Boomers manager Jamie Bennett prepares to take the reins of the new franchise, he’ll have some familiar faces backing him up.
Bennett served as the pitching coach for the Gary SouthShore RailCats, an American Association independent league team owned by Boomers owners Pat and Lindy Salvi, from 2006 to 2010, when the club was in the Northern League.
Several front office members, including team president and general manager Andy Viano, also worked in the RailCats organization.
Having a veteran ownership team makes his job as a coach easier, Bennett said.
“I don’t have to worry about, ‘Is this going to get done on time?’ ” he said. “It allows me to just concentrate on baseball. The front office has been unbelievable, and they’ve had a busy, busy offseason.”
Bennett was hired on a recommendation from RailCats head coach Greg Tagert, whom Bennett has played for or coached with in every season since 2002.
The two still talk daily, and Bennett said he kept Tagert’s focus on clubhouse chemistry in mind in building his roster.
“He does background checks on guys,” Bennett said. “He doesn’t sign guys just based on statistics. He’s very diligent in asking about a guy’s background, whatever he can find out about him personality-wise, and avoiding any distractions in the clubhouse.”
Bennett will seek to replicate the atmosphere in Gary, where the RailCats made the league playoffs in five of the last six seasons. Boomers hitting coach CJ Thieleke, who was the third base coach for the RailCats last season, will help him implement Tagert’s coaching philosophies.
Building a team from scratch helped him find the right players, Bennett said.
“I got the job in late October, and I hit the panic button a little when I found out there’s no expansion draft,” Bennett said. “But you find out pretty quick, there’s tons of guys that want to play ball out there. It’s finding the right ones that’s the challenge.”
Bennett said his final roster has athletic players who can play solid defense, and the offensive focus will be on putting together tough at-bats.
The Boomers went 4-4-1 in their exhibition schedule, and they will begin Frontier League play Friday night in Ohio, when they take on the Lake Erie Crushers. The home opener is May 25.
After taking the 2011 season off due to the birth of his son, Bennett said he’s ready to get on the field again.
“Obviously, there’s a little bit of pressure — well, a lot of pressure, in my mind,” Bennett said. “Coming from what we came from in Gary, winning so much for several years, I hope to carry that over here.”