Joe Kruzel named State College Spikes manager

The St. Louis Cardinals didn’t take long to name Johnny Rodriguez’s replacement.

A day after Rodriguez was named the manager of Double-A Springfield, Joe Kruzel was named the new manger of the State College Spikes on Thursday. Kruzel becomes the ninth manager in Spikes’ history.

“We’re excited to welcome Joe Kruzel and Jordan Brown to the Spikes family,” Spikes General Manager Scott Walker said in a release, “and excited to welcome Roger (LaFrancois), Darwin (Marrero) and Chris (Whitman) back to State College for another great season of Spikes baseball.”

Brown is the new strength and conditioning coach. LaFrancois, Marrero and Whitman return to State College in their same roles, hitting coach, pitching coach and athletic trainer, respectively.

Kruzel has tough shoes to fill in Rodriguez. The Spikes will be defending the New York-Penn League crown and coming off a 50-win regular season.

Kruzel was the manager for Single-A Peoria the past three seasons.

This story was originally published December 1, 2016 at 8:07 PM with the headline "Joe Kruzel named State College Spikes manager."