MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Tampa Bay Rays announced Tuesday the Field Staff for the 2016 Montgomery Biscuits season. Brady Williams and R.C. Lichtenstein will return as manager and pitching coach respectively. Dan DeMent will replace long-time Biscuit Ozzie Timmons, as hitting coach. Timmons was recently promoted to the Rays AAA affiliate, the Durham Bulls. Kris Russell will return as the Biscuits athletic trainer.

Williams, 36, enters his third season as manager of the Biscuits and his eighth as a manager in the Rays’ system. The Biscuits’ skipper made a meteoric uprising through the minors starting in 2012 with the Low-A Bowling Green Hot Rods. After winning 80 games and being selected as the Best Managerial Prospect in the Midwest League by Baseball America, Williams was promoted the following season to lead the Stone Crabs in High-A. A trip to the Florida State League Championship earned Williams yet another promotion to the Montgomery Biscuits in 2014. He led the Biscuits to a 77-61 record in 2015 and clinched the second half Southern League North Division Championship earning the Biscuits their first playoff berth since 2012.

Williams enters 2016 with 16 years of professional baseball experience and ten years in a managing or coaching capacity. The Rays first hired Williams in 2006. He served for three seasons as a coach in the lower ranks of the system before obtaining his first managerial opportunity in 2009 when he became the skipper of the Rays' short season team, the Hudson Valley Renegades.

The bloodline of managing runs deep in the Williams family. Jimy Williams, Brady's father, managed at the Major League level and Shawn, Brady’s younger brother, is currently manages the Lakewood BlueClaws, the Class A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies’ organization. Jimy managed for 12 seasons in the Majors for the Blue Jays (1986-1989), Red Sox (1997-2001) and the Astros (2002-2004). The elder Williams won the 1999 American League Manager of the Year award for leading the Red Sox to a 94-68 finish and a wild card berth into the playoffs.

DeMent, 37, enters his sixteenth season in professional baseball, eighth in a coaching capacity. He joined the Rays organization on November 1, 2008. DeMent spent the last two seasons with Bowling Green after two seasons with Hudson Valley (2012-13), two seasons with the GCL Rays (2010-11) and one season with the Princeton Rays (2009). In 2007, he wrapped up an eight-year playing career with the Rays and Nationals system. DeMent resides in Birmingham and attended the University of Alabama-Birmingham.

Lichtenstein will be directing the pitching staff for the fifth-straight season in Montgomery. The Chicago-native spent three seasons as pitching coach in Bowling Green before joining the Biscuits in 2012. Overall, Lichtenstein has completed eleven years as a coach in the Rays’ system. In three seasons with the Biscuits, Lichtenstein has seen a few talented prospects go from the Biscuits all the way up to the Rays. Alex Colome, a Dominican flame-thrower, pitched under Lichtenstein in 2012 and debuted on the mound the same season for the Rays. Enny Romero, a hard-throwing lefthander also from the Dominican Republic, started with the Biscuits in 2013 before making it to the Majors as a September call-up. In 2014, former-Biscuits relievers Kirby Yates and C.J. Riefenhauser threw out of the Rays’ bullpen. In 2015, Lichtenstein coached Minor League Player of the Year, Blake Snell who made 12 starts with the Biscuits, and Jake Faria who led the minor leagues with 17 wins.

Russell returns for his fifth season as the Biscuits’ athletic trainer. The Florida-native enters his tenth season with the Rays and thirteenth in professional baseball. A University of South Florida graduate, Russell earned his Bachelor's of Science in Athletic Training in 2004. Russell was the 2014 Southern League Trainer of the Year.

The Biscuits open their thirteenth season at Riverwalk Stadium on Tuesday, April 12 at 7:05 p.m. versus the Mississippi Braves.

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The Montgomery Biscuits, class AA affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays is a Minor League Baseball member of the Southern League. 2016 will be the Biscuit’s thirteenth season of operation at Riverwalk Stadium, the centerpiece of Downtown Montgomery, AL located at 200 Coosa Street. The muti-purpose facility hosts all 70 home games in addition to other events through the entire calendar year. For tickets or more information, please call 334-323-2255 or visit the Biscuits online at biscuitsbaseball.com.

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