Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, WV

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February 8, 2010

Rays to introduce new field manager on Tuesday

Staff reports

PRINCETON — The Princeton Rays professional baseball team will hold a free reception on Tuesday for fans to get acquainted with the team’s new 2010 manager, Michael Johns.

The event will be held from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall of Princeton Presbyterian Church, located at 1809 West Main Street. There will be brief remarks at 7:30 p.m. followed by drawings for door prizes.

“I have talked with Michael by phone several times and he is very anxious to get up here and check out the set-up,” said Princeton Rays general manager Jim Holland.

“It will make his job a little easier that he will already have been here once before he arrives back here in June with the team. And, he has certainly heard about our great fans and is anxious to meet them.”

The 2010 campaign will mark Johns’ first season as a professional baseball manager. The 35-year old resident of Orange Park, Fla. has spent the past two summers on the coaching staff of Tampa Bay’s New York-Penn League affiliate, the Hudson Valley Renegades.

He was the head coach at Orange Park, Fla. High School from 2004-2007 prior to joining the Rays’ organization in December 2007. Before that, he spent four years as the assistant baseball coach at Fernan-dina Beach (Fla.) High School.

As a player, he was a middle infielder, drafted in the 19th round by the Colorado Rockies of the June 1997 draft. He played two years in the pro ranks for the Rockies’ farm system for their class-A affiliates at Portland, Ore., and Asheville, N.C.

He graduated from Tulane University, where he was a two-time Conference USA, all-conference shortstop for the Green Wave.

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