First-year Arkansas Travelers Manager Dave Berg said he's passed through Little Rock plenty of times, but he's never stopped long enough to fully take in the Natural State's capital city.
That's about to change quickly, though.
"This is the longest I've been here. I don't know much about it," said Berg, who had just arrived at the Marriott hotel in downtown Little Rock on Monday night. "It seems like a cool city, and I look forward to being here for the 2020 season."
Berg will, in due time, be able to learn more about his new surroundings, just as he will soon enough learn the roster he will be tasked with help developing this year.
Berg drove in from his Fort Worth area home Monday to be formally introduced as the Travs' new manager in front of dozens of fans, supporters and staffers at the club's annual Hot Stove banquet. Today, he'll head across the Arkansas River and visit Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock for the first time.
A native of Roseville, Calif., Berg played collegiately at the University of Miami and spent seven seasons in the majors as a utility player, beginning with the Florida Marlins from 1998-2001 before moving to the Toronto Blue Jays from 2002-04.
The 49-year-old is entering his fourth year working in the Seattle Mariners' organization. Last season he served as the manager of the Class A West Virginia Power, where he guided the club to a 69-70 finish. Before that, he was the hitting coach for the Class AAA Tacoma Rainiers for two seasons. Prior to joining Seattle, Berg managed in the Marlins' minor-league system for three different affiliates.
"Bergie's gonna do a great job here," said Seattle Manager Scott Servais, who also made an appearance at Monday's banquet. "Certainly is a guy that had a nice major league career, got his coaching career going being a hitting coach, managing last year. Just taking the next step to Double-A, it's really important not only progressing our players, but our coaches as well, and I think we've done a nice job of that in our minor league system also."
Berg's new gig in North Little Rock is the closest to his Texas home that he's been in his coaching career, something he indicated was an added benefit.
But Berg is a grinder, and he expressed content with where his coaching career has continued to take him.
"I enjoy what I'm doing here," Berg said. "I played in the big leagues. I'm not trying to promote to get to the big leagues. I'm perfectly content wherever they send me. I enjoy my time riding the buses with the guys and actually being with the guys."
Berg takes over the Travs for Cesar Nicolas, who guided the team for the second half of the 2019 season following Mitch Canham's departure. Canham abruptly left the Travs in June to take the head coaching job at his alma mater, Oregon State. Under Canham, the Travs raced to a 42-21 start.
Nicolas -- who at the time was working as the Mariners' Latin America Development Coordinator -- replaced Canham for the rest of the season. Nicolas is expected to serve in a "rover" type role within the Mariners' organization this season, according to a Travs spokesperson.
The Travs are coming off one of the most successful seasons in club history, one that featured a roster stacked throughout the year with a collection of many of the Mariners' top prospects, including a handful who were rated as the top 100 in baseball. The Travs finished with the best overall record in the Texas League at 81-57 and won the first-half North Division title, before falling in the semifinals to the Tulsa Drillers.
Even with a rebuilding Mariners team likely in need of immediate help from some those key pieces from last season -- such as first baseman Evan White, outfielders Kyle Lewis and Jake Fraley, starting pitchers Justus Sheffield and Justin Dunn and potentially a number of relievers -- the Travs are expected to field another team with plenty of young talent.
The Mariners' farm system is rated as one of the best in baseball and had featured five top-100 prospects by the end of last season.
Outfielder Jarred Kelenic, the top-ranked prospect in Seattle's system, was with Berg last season in West Virginia before he moved up to Class A Advanced Modesto and then the Travs.
Berg won't know exactly what kind of team he has until the end of spring training, but he stated clearly that his goal for the Travs this season is to win a championship. The Travs open the season April 9 against Amarillo, last year's Texas League champion, at Dickey-Stephens Park, and their first six games are at home.
"I think we got a lot of good, young players," Berg said. "They're good, talented players, and they got really good heads on themselves. ... Some of those guys are here in Double-A now, which is a phone call away from the big leagues. They're guys that are getting close.
"Obviously with the youth of our big-league team, I think these guys are gonna be the foundation of the Mariners for years to come."
Sports on 01/21/2020