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MANAGER CARLOS CARDOZA HIGHLIGHTS NEW FACES IN FRISCO
FRISCO, Texas (January 18, 2023) – The Frisco RoughRiders, in conjunction with the Texas Rangers, have announced Carlos Cardoza will manage the RoughRiders for the 2023 season. Josh Zeid (pitching coach), Ryan Tuntland (hitting coach), Tripp Keister (bench coach), and Kawika Emsley-Pai (development coach) will join Cardoza. Yuichi Takizawa (athletic trainer) and Jon Nazarko (strength and conditioning coach) round out the 2023 Riders staff as the only returners.
Cardoza gets the bump to Double-A Frisco in 2023 after managing with High-A Hickory in 2022 and Low-A Down East in 2021. The Puerto Rico native piloted the Crawdads to a 66-65 record last season and has amassed a 312-207 (.601) total over his six seasons as a skipper. Before his time in Down East, he managed the Arizona League Rangers (2019) and Dominican Summer League Rangers (2016-2019), twice reaching the championship series. Hired on by the Rangers in 2015, Cardoza was the head coach at his alma mater, Decatur High School, in Georgia for two years. Cardoza spent two seasons at Georgia State University and two years as a player at Armstrong Atlantic State, where he was a gold glove second baseman and All-Peach Belt Conference selection.
Zeid joins the Rangers organization for his first season after serving as the rehab coordinator and minor league pitching analyst in the Chicago Cubs system for the last four years. Slated to be the pitching coach for Team Israel in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, Zeid pitched for the Houston Astros in 2013 and 2014, amassing a 5.21 ERA over 48 appearances from the bullpen. Zeid pitched with the Corpus Christi Hooks in the minor leagues in 2011 and 2012. A 10th-round selection by the Phillies in 2009, the New Haven, Connecticut native was traded to the Astros as part of the Hunter Pence deal in 2011.
Tuntland, like Cardoza and Emsley-Pai, will head to Frisco from the 2022 Hickory staff. Starting his third season with the Rangers organization, Tuntland was the hitting coach for Hickory in 2022 after serving as the hitting coach for the Arizona Complex League Rangers in 2021. From 2016 to 2018, the Illinois native coached in the collegiate ranks at Oakton CC, the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, and West Virginia, his alma mater. Tuntland was drafted in the 29th round of the 2013 draft by San Francisco, hitting .227/.345/.338/.683 over his two seasons.
A baseball veteran, Keister comes to the Rangers organization after spending the last eight seasons with the Washington Nationals organization. He managed Double-A Harrisburg in the previous two seasons and was the manager for High-A Potomac (now Fredericksburg) from 2015-2019. Drafted by the Mets in 1992 as a 33rd round out of the University of Delaware, Keister played Minor League Baseball for four seasons, topping out with Double-A Binghamton.
Emsley-Pai was with Hickory in 2022 and joined the Riders for his first stint in Double-A as a coach. After coaching collegiately from 2019-2021 as the head coach of Centralia College in Washington state, he joined the Rangers organization in 2022. A former catcher, Emsley-Pai played six seasons in the minor leagues for the Diamondbacks (2010) and Pirates (2011-15) systems, making his highest stop at Double-A Altoona in 2014.
Takizawa begins his second season with the RoughRiders and his sixth in the Rangers organization in 2023. The native of Hokkaido, Japan, spent 2021 with the High-A Hickory Crawdads. Takizawa holds degrees from HOSEI University in Japan and Southern Arkansas University.
Nazarko joins the Frisco staff for his second season and will enter his fourth in the Texas organization. Before his time in professional baseball, Nazarko worked for his alma mater, the University of Rhode Island, for four years as the primary strength coach for baseball, women’s basketball, and men’s and women’s soccer. As a student-athlete for the Rams, he played both baseball and basketball.
The Frisco RoughRiders won the 2022 Texas League Championship, their second title in franchise history. Season tickets for the 2023 season are already on sale. For tickets and more information about the Frisco RoughRiders, visit RidersBaseball.com or call 972.731.9200.