Orioles announce 2011 coaching staff

The Orioles today announced their 2011 coaching staff - bench coach Willie Randolph; pitching coach Mark Connor; hitting coach Jim Presley; bullpen coach Rick Adair; third base coach John Russell; and first base coach Wayne Kirby. Five of the six men have previously served on major league staffs, with two (Randolph and Russell) managing at the major league level. Randolph, 56, will serve as bench coach for the Orioles, the same role he held for the last two seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers. Prior to his time with the Brewers, Randolph managed the New York Mets from 2005-08, compiling a 302-253 record. The Mets won the National League East division title in 2006 under Randolph, advancing to the NLCS. His .588 career winning percentage as Mets' skipper ranks second to Davey Johnson in club history. Randolph spent the previous 11 seasons (1994-2004) on the major league coaching staff of the New York Yankees as third base coach (1994-2003) and bench coach (2004). The Yankees advanced to the postseason in 10 of those seasons, including four World Series championships. A six-time All-Star second baseman, Randolph spent the majority of his 18 major league seasons with the Yankees and hit .276 with 687 RBI in 2,202 career games. He was a part of seven playoff teams as a player and won two World Series championships (1977-78) with New York. Connor, 61, brings 36 years of coaching experience to the Orioles and has worked on the major league staff of four different teams over all or parts of 19 seasons. He spent the past eight years in the Texas Rangers organization, most recently serving as a special assistant in player development for the past two years. Connor's time with the Rangers included five and a half seasons on the major league staff as bullpen coach under Buck Showalter from 2003-2005 and pitching coach from 2006-08. Connor also served as pitching coach for Showalter in his two other managerial stints with the Arizona Diamondbacks (1998-2000) and New York Yankees (1992-93). The Diamondbacks posted the second-best ERA in the major leagues in 1999 and Randy Johnson won Cy Young Awards in '99 and 2000 under Connor. Connor worked as pitching coach for the Toronto Blue Jays from 2001 to mid-season in 2002, and was also a member of the major league staff of the Yankees during parts of the 1985-87 seasons and from 1990-91, prior to Showalter joining the major league club. Presley, 49, spent the past five seasons as hitting coach for the Florida Marlins, during which time the club set single-season team records in numerous offensive categories, including runs, hits, home runs, RBI, average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage. Prior to his work with the Marlins, Presley spent five years as a hitting instructor in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization, including three seasons (1998-2000) as hitting coach on Showalter's major league staff. In 1999, Arizona posted league-highs in runs and RBI. A fourth-round draft pick in 1979 by the Seattle Mariners, Presley spent eight seasons in the majors (1984-91) with three different teams and was selected as a member of the 1986 American League All-Star team. Presley began his coaching career in 1996, and 2011 will be his 16th season as a coach, and ninth as hitting coach at the major league level. Adair, 52, joins the Orioles after serving the past two seasons as pitching coach for the Seattle Mariners. He helped lead the Mariners pitching staff to a league-leading 3.87 ERA in 2009, despite using 20 different pitchers (12 starters) during that season. Prior to his time with the Mariners, Adair served as pitching coach for the Detroit Tigers (mid-September 1996-99) and Cleveland Indians (1992-93). He also spent four seasons as minor league pitching coordinator for the Texas Rangers (2005-08) and Atlanta Braves (2000-03). Adair began his coaching career in 1986 after a seven-year minor league pitching career in the Mariners farm system and brings 24 years of professional coaching experience and seven seasons of major league coaching experience to the staff. Russell, 49, most recently served as manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates, compiling a 186-299 record over three seasons from 2008-2010. Prior to joining the Pirates, Russell spent two seasons as Triple-A manager for Philadelphia and was named the International League Manager of the Year after guiding Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to the Northern Division title in 2006. Russell began his career as a manager in the Minnesota organization, where his teams posted five winning seasons in eight years. He was named Minor League Manager of the Year and "Best Managerial Prospect" by Baseball America after Edmonton captured the Pacific Coast League crown in 2002. In 10 seasons as a minor league manager, Russell compiled a 666-667 record and won three division championships. Originally selected by the Phillies in the first round of the 1982 June draft, the former catcher made his major league debut in 1984. He played in a total of 448 big league games with Philadelphia (1984-88), Atlanta (1988) and Texas (1990-93) and caught Nolan Ryan's sixth career no-hitter on June 11, 1990. Kirby, 46, spent the past five seasons with the Texas Rangers organization as an outfield and baserunning coordinator and the four years before that as a member of the Cleveland Indians' player development staff, coaching for the club's Single-A and Double-A franchises. His move to coaching came after an 18-year professional career that included all or parts of eight seasons in the major leagues with the Indians (1991-96), Los Angeles Dodgers (1996-97) and New York Mets (1998). He appeared in 516 major league games and drove in the winning run in the 11th inning in the first game played at Jacobs Field in Cleveland on April 4, 1994. The Orioles have also announced that former bullpen coach Alan Dunn will remain in the organization as Minor League Pitching Coordinator, and former third base coach Gary Allenson will return to his previous role as manager of Triple-A Norfolk in 2011.