| Frank Kremblas | |
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Kremblas with Jason Jaramillo in 2010 |
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| Manager | |
| Born: October 25, 1966 Carroll, Ohio |
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| Bats: Right | Throws: Right |
| statistics | |
| Minor league managerial record | 765-701 |
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| Career highlights and awards | |
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Francis Michael "Frank" Kremblas Jr. (born October 25, 1966) is an American minor league baseball manager, currently with the Indianapolis Indians Triple-A team within the Pittsburgh Pirates organization, and a former minor league player in the Cincinnati Reds farm system from 1989 to 1996.
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Kremblas was born on October 25, 1966, in Carroll, Ohio. His father, Frank Kremblas, Sr., was a three-year-letter winner on the Ohio State Buckeyes football team from 1956 to 1958 and quarterbacked the team to a share of the 1957 national championship.
Kremblas played baseball at his hometown high school, Canal Winchester High School, where he would later be inducted into its Athletic Hall of Fame in 1997. He went on to play collegiate baseball at Eastern Kentucky University where he was All-Ohio Valley Conference in 1987 and 1988. As a member of the Columbus All-Americans, his team won a Great Lakes Collegiate League title. He was selected by the Cincinnati Reds in the 23rd round of the June 1989 Major League Baseball Draft.
Kremblas resides in Columbus, Ohio.[1]
During the 1989 season, Kremblas played for the Gulf Coast Reds Rookie league team. For the 1990 season, he was promoted to the Single-A Cedar Rapids Reds. He was promoted again in 1991 to the Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts. Kremblas spent the 1992 season with the Lookouts before being promoted to the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians in 1993. He would spend the first half of the 1994 season back in Chattanooga before returning to Indianapolis. Again, he spent part of the 1995 season in Chattanooga before finishing up with the Indians. His last season was spent entirely with the Indians after which he retired from his playing career.
During his playing career, he spent most of his time playing in the infield, but he filled-in as a catcher and outfielder. He also pitched a career total of eight appearances, in nine innings.
In 1996, Kremblas was a free agent. He did not get any offers, except from the Montreal Expos as a player-coach, whereby he ended up becoming the Ottawa Lynx's hitting coach.[2] Two years later, in 1998, the Expos rewarded Kremblas, making him the manager of the Gulf Coast Expos Rookie League team. He was promoted to the Single-A Cape Fear Crocs in 1999. After the California League All-Star break of 2000, he became manager of the Mudville Nine. In 2001, he guided the High Desert Mavericks to the second round of the California League playoffs.
Kremblas was made skipper of the Double-A Huntsville Stars in 2002, where he would stay through the 2004 season. During his time with the Stars he also served as manager for the 2004 Southern League All-Star Game, coach for the 2003 All-Star Futures Game, and coach for the 2003 Arizona Fall League Peoria Saguaros.
In 2005, he was promoted to the Triple-A Nashville Sounds where he guided the team to win the Pacific Coast League Championship. In both the 2006 and 2007 seasons, he took the team to win the American North Division title before losing in the conference finals. At the conclusion of the 2007 season, he was named the PCL Manager of the Year. Kremblas was released from his position as Nashville's manager after a 59–81 season in 2008.[3] In four years of managing for the Sounds, that was the only season which didn't result in a division title.[3] That December, he signed on to manage the Indianapolis Indians, Triple-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates, in 2009.[4]
In 2010, Kremblas was named to the coaching staff of the International League in the Triple-A All-Star Game.[5] He has also been been mentioned as a possible replacement candidate for the Pirates' coach John Russell.[6]
On April 14, 2008, Kremblas accepted an offer to manage the Caracas Lions (Leones del Caracas), of the Venezuelan Winter League, in October 2008.[7] He become the team's 32nd manager since it was established in 1952. This season marked his third year with a winter league baseball team; he previously coached in Venezuela in 2000 and managed in Mexico in 2004.[7]
With the Leones del Caracas, Kremblas reached a record of 42 wins and 21 loses, setting an all-time record for most wins in a 63-game regular season. Those results were more than enough to grant him, unanimously, the "Manager of the Year" Award.
In the playoffs, Leones had a record of 9–7, reaching the finals against Tigres de Aragua, losing in 7 games. Team president, Luis Avila, confirmed in March 2009 that Kremblas would return to manage the team again for the 2009–2010 season, but he refused to manage the team, 3 months later, for personal reasons.
Actually he is the Manager of the Navegantes del Magallanes in the Venezuelan Winter League (2010-11 season)
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