It is the 25th season of St. Paul Saints baseball, and there have been many players over the years who have helped to make this the most memorable team in all of independent baseball. That has included such players as Darryl Strawberry, Leon Durham and even Illa Borders, the first woman to pitch in a professional baseball game.

This is an organization that has prospered because of the high-profile stars that have helped to put this team on the map. Even its Manager, George Tsamis, has become an icon throughout the independent leagues, not only because he was a Major League pitcher himself, but also because he has become one of the most successful manager’s in the history of baseball, no matter what level you are talking about.

There are many who have become stars with the team, but one who has become as integral to the success of the club is a man who is quite happy to simply live in the shadows. He is most pleased when the attention is on the success of the pitching staff, and let’s their success do the talking for him. That man is St. Paul Saints Pitching Coach Kerry Ligtenberg.

Proving a Guiding Light to the Majors

What makes Kerry Ligtenberg, or “Ligty” as his players call him (pronounced like Lie-tee), so special is that he started in independent baseball before getting his chance to join a Major League affiliate. In 1994, Kerry was pitching for the Minneapolis Loons of the now defunct Prairie League. He was 11-2 in his second season with the club, with 100-strikeouts and just 26-walks in 108.2 innings pitched.

Former Atlanta Braves catcher Greg Olson, the manager of the Loons at the time, contacted his old organization to tell them about his starter. Olson made it clear that Ligtenberg had all the assets – mental toughness, great work ethic, and physical skill – that would make him that ideal prospect for the club. The Braves agreed. They gave Kerry a tryout and he was signed in January.

In one of the oddest baseball transactions of all time, the Braves organization acquired Kerry for $750 worth of baseball equipment, which amounted to 12 dozen baseballs and 24 bats. Forget Jack exchanging his cow for magical beans that eventually led to him discovering a bag of gold coins; this was the greatest oddest acquisition of all time.

A Brave New World

Kerry Ligtenberg was 25-years old when his career began in affiliate ball and it did not take him long to move up the ranks. He began the 1996 season at High-A Durham, where he was used exclusively in the bullpen. Kerry went 7-4 that season with 20-saves. He posted an impressive 2.41 ERA and struck out 76 in 59.2-innings pitched.

He had performed so well that the Braves moved him to AA-Greenville to start the 1997 campaign. He would be there for the first half of the year, making 31-appearances and saving 16-games, but was moved to AAA-Richmond near the middle of the campaign and would find himself in Atlanta before the season concluded. In one calendar year, he had gone from High-A to the Majors, quite an impressive feat for a man who was playing in what many would view as the fringes of the sport.

The next season he remained in Atlanta and became the Braves closer after Mark Wolhers lost his control. He saved 30-games as a rookie, earning him a fourth-place finish in the Rookie of the Year balloting. Ligty proved that the Majors were in no way too big of a stage for him, as he posted an impressive 2.71 ERA with 79-strikeouts in 73.0 innings pitched. He allowed just 75 total runners to reach and helped the Braves to their seventh straight trip to the playoffs.

It had been a great start to his career, but that track looked to be derailed when Kerry needed Tommy John surgery following the 1998 campaign. He would spend the entire 1999 season rehabbing and, when he returned, he found that his role had changed as well. The right-hander would now set-up for left-hander John Rocker.

Undeterred, Kerry pitched well in his new role. He made 59-appearances in 2000, going 2-3 with 12-saves and a 3.61 ERA. In 2001, the right-hander returned to that role and had another solid season for the Braves, posting a 3-3 record and a 3.01 ERA. He would pitch in the role in 2002 as well, lowering his ERA to 2.97 while pitching 66.2-innings, the most in any season since his return from surgery.

In 2003, Kerry moved to the Baltimore Orioles after being granted free agency by the Braves. Kerry spent a season with the Orioles, where he was 4-2 with a 3.34 ERA in 68-appearances. The following season he moved to Toronto where he saved three games for the Blue Jays before moving onto to Arizona to become part of the Diamondbacks pitching staff. He would pitch just seven games that season before being sent down to AAA-Tucson. He would finish out the season there, pitching in 38 games and posting a 4-3 record.

In 2006, Kerry appeared in 53 games for the Chicago Cubs’ AAA-Iowa team, where he saved 18 games and posted a 3.57 ERA. It was an outstanding performance, but Kerry was 35-years-old and it was getting to be time for him to consider that maybe his professional baseball career was over.

He decided to retire, however, in 2009 he came out of retirement to pitch a season with the St. Paul Saints. It was an outstanding conclusion to his professional career, returning to the place where his career began. In 30 games that season, Kerry saved 15-games and posted a solid 3.00 ERA. He allowed just 33 total hitters to reach in 36-innings, while striking out 29. It was an outstanding season but would be his last.

Satisfied Just Being at Home

After spending nearly 15 years as a professional baseball player, Kerry Ligtenberg’s career was over. The right-hander settled down in Eagan, Minnesota, and decided that he could be quite content spending his time at home with his wife, Sarah, and three kids. He took on a role as a coach at Park High School, his alma mater, and would coach there for the 2011 and 2012 seasons.

In 2012, then Saints Pitching Coach Jason Verdugo decided to take the Athletic Director’s job at Hamline University. Manager George Tsamis was looking for a new pitching coach and he decided that his 2009 closer was the right guy for the job.

“George had texted me one morning and asked if I was interested. I guess I hadn’t really thought about it. I kind of approached him with the idea that maybe I would just help out part-time and then we would just work something out where I could be here most of the time. I have three young kids and my wife is a teacher and so I didn’t want to be too far away during the school year, but I really like doing this job. I kind of can relate to these guys, probably because I played two seasons on an independent league team working my way to getting signed and to get to play at a higher level.”

This was a great opportunity for Kerry because he loved the idea of not only working with his former manager, but it also offered him the prospect of working with Ole Sheldon, the St. Paul hitting coach who had also been a player on the team in 2009. It clearly was a great opportunity to work with two men that he respected and knew he would enjoy his new position.

“This situation has been ideal because I get to spend time with the kids and watch them and help coach their teams, while at the same time I get to stay here with the team. It’s been fun working here with George and Ole; we have a great relationship and we are all about trying to win. It’s been good, everything I had expected.”

Looking for New Perspectives

Kerry Ligtenberg had spent nearly 40-years in the game he loved, but coaching was going to be something new to him. While he had two years of experience at the high school level, he was in no way thinking that he had all the answers. He had seen how new ideas had helped to mold his own career and so he wanted to give new ideas and innovations a thorough evaluation.

“One thing I said when I came in was that I always wanted to adapt to the new thinking that comes along, like in things like long toss throwing or weight lifting programs, or just different ideas that have come about. When I was playing there were some pitching coaches that were really old school. When I first started long toss it was just starting to become a thing and they were so far against it. For me, I felt that long toss was what really got my velocity up to the point, so I really didn’t want to just stick to one frame of mind in terms of how my coaching went. There are great ideas all the time and I wanted to give those ideas a chance to be evaluated.”

The one thing that Kerry focused on was giving his pitchers the same opportunity to succeed that he had been given. Because he had come from independent ball and made it all the way to the Majors, he wanted to see his guys get the same opportunity, especially those who were coming from places where scouts were not spending as much time.

“I am about trying to get these guys an opportunity to be signed, especially the kids coming up from the D-3 schools who weren’t drafted; to get them an opportunity to play past independent ball.”

What is interesting about the Saints Pitching Coach is that he is really interested in helping the players to learn how to help themselves. In looking at how Kerry talks to his players, he is very much like a Sheriff Taylor in the Andy Griffith Show. A man who helps those are troubled or confused to find the right pathway to resolve a problem, without explicitly telling them what to do.

“When we meet the first day of practice I tell the guys that I don’t have all the answers. A lot of times I kind of take a step back. Other than the guys I have known for a long time, I kind of take a step back, take a look at their mechanics, see how they pitch. I don’t come right in and try to change guys right away. If there is something glaring that I think will help them then I will let them know, but most of the time they come to me with their questions. To me, it is really about getting them to see the areas where they need to make changes.”

There is a lot of wisdom there, and that includes Kerry’s understanding that often a player will only come to him when things are really heading south.

“A lot of times when guys start struggling they tend to look for a lot more info and that is when I tend to do more work. For me, I just try to talk to the guys about pitching, about the game, about the mindset every day, and just keep competing out there. I just try to help them in any way I can.”

Illuminating the Positive

Former Loons Manager Greg Olson once commented that Kerry Ligtenberg was one of the most mentally tough players he had ever seen. He was the epitome of what you want a baseball player to be, especially a closer. These are men who have to forget the three-run homer they gave up the night before, and focus on the opportunity to save this night’s game. The right-hander was great at this when he was a closer, but he was finding that a lot more difficult as the pitching coach.

“You have to understand that you’re not going to win them all, and so you have to let the losses go and that is one thing that for me has gotten a lot better. The first couple of years the losses were tough for me because I always second guessed and guessed what we could have done. Then I went back to that reliever mentality where it’s just one game and you have move. Even as a coach you have to move on and get the guys ready for the next game.”

While taking the loses a little bit more in stride, there is one part of the game that Kerry has never learned to accept.

“I miss being in the clubhouse with the guys, but the part I don’t miss is making good pitches and getting bad results. Where you’re so frustrated and you don’t know why it is happening or why it is happening to you. I have had this conversations with some guys of late where their stuff has been great and they have pitched great, but there have been games where their stuff has been outstanding and every time he makes a mistake he gets hurt or he’s given up four or five bloops or dribblers that have led to guys getting on base. It just starts snowballing.”

This is where Ligty has tried to be a big difference maker with his pitchers. He knows they may be doing everything right but still find themselves giving up runs, and so he focuses on making sure that they know he is 100 percent behind them.

“I understand how hard this game is just from a competing stand point, plus playing a 100 game season. You can’t ride all the highs and get down in the valleys. You have a be a little more even keel and that’s kind of where Ole and I just let it go and just work with guys, trying to keep them positive because we both know how hard it is on a daily basis to be at your best. Even at your best you still may not be successful.”

While these are all great in theory, the proof of success is in the results, and that is exactly what has been seen. In 2012, the St. Paul Saints were fourth in the American Association in both ERA and opponent batting average. The next two seasons the pitching staff would take a step back, primarily due to injuries, however, in 2015 the Saints staff would shave nearly a run and a half off their ERA from 2014, dropping the ERA to 3.24, second in the league. Last season, that number increased a full run per game, but the Saints also saw three of their starters from 2015 sign with affiliate or Mexican League clubs, and two more joined affiliate clubs during the season.

This season, Kerry thought he was going to have one of the best staffs he has had the pleasure of working with, but injuries left three of the team’s starters sidelined to begin the year, sending Lightenberg and Tsamis looking for arms. The two knew that this was going to take some time to rearm and to get the staff ready, and that showed when St. Paul gave up 55-runs in the first 8-games of the season. However, in the last 10-games they have given up just 41-runs, and that includes a 15-game to Cleburne. The Saints even recorded back-to-back-to-back shutouts in a series sweep of the Texas AirHogs on June 6-7, the first time in the team’s history that they have accomplished this feat.

Part of the Saints Trinity

While the success on the field and the signings of players have been a source of great pride to Kerry Ligtenberg, it is the respect he has earned from his manager that has maybe been the biggest accomplishment of all. George Tsamis does not just rely on Kerry to simply guide the pitching staff, but to also help him with making key personnel decisions. It is something that he has earned over time and is now at the point where he has the final say in some decisions.

“When I first started, George kind of had his mind made up on what he wanted to do with who was pitching and who we were keeping on the roster, and then we would just sit in his office and would talk about what we should do. I was just learning the different roster rules as we had gone along, but now we sit down pretty much every day and go over the lineup, who should play and who should sit, who should be here and there. It doesn’t always mean that Ole and I get our way, but at the same time, it used to be that George would set the lineup and that was it, but now there is a lot more discussion and we go back and forth on guys. He still has the final decision on who we are keeping. He does let me work with the rotation and set it up on how I think it would be best. He does ask me a lot about which guys we should use. Sometimes I kind of overrule him and he will listen, sometimes he won’t. If he does and it doesn’t work, he is the first to tell me he was wrong and that is part of why we have such a great relationship.”

While appreciating the trust that his Manager has shown in him, Kerry is not about accolades for himself. He doesn’t gloat about his time in the Majors and wants his pitchers to be the one that the attention is on, happy to work in relative anonymity.

“I didn’t come here to tell guys that I made it to the Big Leagues and so they should do things this way or that way. I want them to do the things that can make them successful. I am here to give advice and to help them to stay positive about what is happening on the field. I hope that my professional career is a sign to them that they can come out of independent baseball and make it to the Majors, but it is still their job to make it there. They are the ones who are putting in all the work and, at the end of the day, they deserve all the credit.”

The St. Paul Saints have accomplished a lot in the five seasons that Kerry Ligtenberg has been with the team. One, however, that is missing is that the Saints have yet to win a title since his hiring. It would be the ideal conclusion to the team’s 25th season in independent baseball and one that Kerry could take great pride in helping to make happen. Just don’t be expecting him to be shining a light on his own success, after all, the St. Paul Saints Pitching Coach is much happier living in the shadows.

By Robert Pannier
Member of the IBWAA