The home clubhouse inside First Energy Park in Lakewood may have some Foo Fighters and Pearl Jam playing (which would be awesome, btw), after the Jersey Shore BlueClaws announced Tuesday that 32-year old Keith Werman will be the 15th manager in team history, as well as announcing the rest of the 2022 coaching staff.

Now, why those two specific rock bands?

The cover photo on Werman's Twitter account is of Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl and subsequent tweets indicate his enjoyment of this grunge rock group along with fellow 90's iconic band, Pearl Jam

Werman, the baseball man, spent the last four seasons working as the major league development coach for the San Diego Padres.

(Photo: Brady Klain/Getty Images)
(Photo: Brady Klain/Getty Images)
loading...

Before joining the Padres staff, Werman was the third base coach for AAA El Paso in 2017, according to the BlueClaws, and prior to that, spent three seasons in Japan with the Hokkido Nippon-Ham Fighters as their international operations coordinator.

Werman was also a player for the University of Virginia helping the Cavaliers reach the College World Series in 2009 and 2011, and was superior at the art of sacrifice bunt, leading the country with 27 in 2011, and 28 the following season, according to the San Diego Padres website.

The BlueClaws said that Werman's staff for the High-A BlueClaws will be pitching coach Brad Bergesen, hitting coach Ari Adut, bench coach Pat Listach, athletic trainer Steve Torregrossa, and strength & conditioning coach Vanessa Escanilla.

"It's really exciting. There are a lot of great people within the organization and I'm really looking forward to having a chance to manage some young men and work with a great coaching staff and go out there and compete," Werman said in a written statement.

Get our free mobile app

As for Bergesen, he is a hire from within the organization, having served as BlueClaws pitching coach in 2018 before going to then High-A Clearwater for two seasons, and last year with AA-Reading. He also pitched in the majors for the Orioles from 2009-11, the Diamondbacks in 2012.

Adut will be spending his first season as a member of the BlueClaws coaching staff after serving as the hitting coach last season in the Florida Complex League, and the year before that as a hitting coach for the Yankees Dominican Summer League team, as well as five years as an assistant coach at Los Angeles Valley College.

Listach spent a couple of seasons managing the Aceros de Monclava in the Mexican League where he helped guide them to a title in 2019.

30-years ago, Listach was the American League Rookie of the Year with the Milwaukee Brewers where he played parts of six MLB seasons as well as with the Houston Astros.

He went on to manage with AAA Tacoma for the Seattle Mariners and had coaching stints with the Cubs, Dodgers, and Nationals organizations.

Torregrossa comes from the AAA team in Lehigh Valley where he was an assistant athletic trainer last season, and in 2020 with High-A Clearwater, and 2018-19 with short-season Williamsport.

Escanilla, who is the first female member of the BlueClaws coaching staff, was with the Gulf Coast/Florida Complex League Phillies for the past couple of seasons after coming to the organization in 2019.

Chris Adamson, who was the manager of the BlueClaws in 2021, will have that same role in the Florida Complex League, as will, 2021 BlueClaws hitting coach Rafael DeLima, while Matt Hockenberry, the 2021 BlueClaws pitching coach and former BlueClaws player, will have the same role with AA Reading.

The team/organization has also announced that two former BlueClaws managers, Marty Malloy from 2017-18, will manage Low-A Clearwater while Shawn Williams, 2015-15, will once manage AA Reading.

The BlueClaws open up their season on Friday, April 8 at 7:05 pm against the Aberdeen IronBirds.

55 baseball players from NJ

More From 94.3 The Point