HILLSBORO -- Baseball at Ron Tonkin Field is five months away, but the Hillsboro Hops are already putting together a solid lineup.
New manager Shawn Roof was introduced to fans at the Hillsboro Hops Fund banquet Thursday night, the same day KL Wombacher was named president and general manager of the organization.
Roof, a 33rd-round draft pick by the Detroit Tigers in 2007, will get his first shot at managing after spending a year last season as a bench coach at Single-A Kane County in the Diamondbacks farm system.
Roof progressed as high as Triple-A Toledo in the Tigers system in 2010, and made a coaching stop collegiately at Indiana University and a professional stint in the Baltimore Orioles chain for two years. Needless to say, he's excited to get his first chance at calling the shots.
"I want to play with an aggressive style," Roof said. "We going to go first-to-third on the bases and we're going to play with energy and enthusiasm."
History is on Roof's side, too. In their first years as manager, J.R. House and Shelley Duncan won Northwest League championships. House led the Hops to the club's first title in 2014, and after he was promoted to Arizona's Advanced-A club in Visalia, Calif., Shelley Duncan helped make it back-to-back titles in 2015.
Duncan will now get his shot at managing the Visalia Rawhide of the California League, and Roof said he heard all about House's and Duncan's exploits as Hops straight from the source.
"I talked to them, and they both let me know that we win here," Roof said. "We had organization meetings earlier in the week, and JR and Shelly both let me know we win in Hillsboro. They were just so positive about the experience they had here; they just loved the place."
Roof's managerial debut will be June 15 in Everett, and he'll make his Ron Tonkin Field debut June 20 against Salem-Keizer.
Mike Parrott will return for his second season as pitching coach and Franklin Stubbs will take over as hitting coach. Stubbs, who won a World Series with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1988, spent 10 years in the Majors with the Dodgers, Houston Astros, Milwaukie Brewers and Detroit Tigers. Jorge Cortes also joins the staff as a bench coach.
Wombacher named president and general manager of club
One of the architects of Hillsboro's success, KL Wombacher was elevated to president and general manager of the Hops by the Hops' parent company Short Season, LLC.
Mike McMurray was also elevated to chairman and CEO of the club.
While Wombacher might assume a couple new responsibilities with the new title, he's still committed to giving the players and fans the best possible baseball experience.
"We've had a tremendous offseason so far, the best one we've had," Wombacher said. "We had a little down year in attendance last year, and that was good for us. It was a reality check that this isn't easy. You don't just swing open the gates and people show up. We've got to put in the work and provide an experience for the fans other than just winning ballgames."
The organization will have a golden opportunity to provide such an experience with the 2017 Pioneer-Northwest All-Star Game.
While details have yet to be ironed out, Wombacher said the event will be three days and will include a fan fest, home run derby and the game between the Northwest and Pioneer all-stars on August 1.
"It will be the biggest all-star event our league as ever seen, by a long shot," Wombacher said. "We are jacked about it. We want this to be a Major League experience for the players, and from the fans' prospective we want this to have a Major League feel."
Hops play eight at home, eight on the road to start season in June
Hillsboro opens the season June 15 on the road against the Everett AquaSox, and come home June 20 against the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes for a three-game series. They continue the home stand for three games against Boise, then head south to defending NWL champ Eugene for a three-game set.
The Hops end June with the front end of a five-game series against Everett.
The complete Hops schedule can be seen here, and ticket plans are here.
Promotions and other events will be announced later.