(Wausau, Wisconsin) – A week after announcing their field manager for 2012, the Wisconsin Woodchucks have made another addition to the 2012 coaching staff.  Jeremy Jirschele will join the Woodchucks this upcoming season as the teams hitting and infield coach. 

Jirschele returns to the Woodchucks 8 years after playing for the team in the summer of 2004.  In 2005, he was drafted in the 30th round into the Kansas City Royals system, where he played until 2008.  Jirschele played his college ball at UW-Oshkosh, where he tallied impressive stats, batting .431 his junior year and .438 as a senior.  He also holds the WIAC record for career doubles with 53, and is second for career hits with 253.  In 2005, he also recorded a fielding percentage of .981.  He was one of 16 players to be named to the D3 All Decade Team for the 2000s and was one of only two Wisconsin players to make the list. 

“Were very excited to have Jeremy on our staff,” said team owner Clark Eckhoff.  “He’s a high character guy with great baseball knowledge.”  During his summer with the Woodchucks, Jirschele earned MVP honors and was selected as Rawlings’s Silver Glove Award winner as a second baseman.  Added Eckhoff,  “It’s exciting to have a former Woodchuck come back and want to be a part of this organization.”

Jeremy was recently named to the UW-Stevens Point coaching staff.  He currently lives in Wausau with his wife, Jennie, and three children, Keagen (5), Taelyn (3) and Paetyn (1).  Baseball runs in the Jirschele family, as his father, Mike, is currently managing the Kansas City Royals Triple A affiliate team, the Omaha Storm Chasers. Mike has previously been selected as the Top Managerial Prospect and Most Likely to Manage in the Major Leagues.  This past year Mike was inducted into the Central Wisconsin Baseball Hall of Fame.