We have personnel news to report from the Greeneville Reds (Rookie; Appalachian League) and the Beloit Snappers (Low A; Midwest League).
In Greeneville, the Reds have announced that Kristen Atwell has been appointed Assistant General Manager, and Justin Rocke will serve as the Broadcaster for the 2018 campaign. Boyd Sports announced in February that they would be taking over the business operations for the club, as Brian Cox will serve as the General Manager of the team.
2018 will mark Kristen Atwell’s first season with the Greeneville Reds. Atwell is coming from a Graduate Assistant Coaching position with the Tusculum College women’s basketball program; while also serving as a director of women’s basketball operations for one year at Tusculum College. Atwell was also a Stadium Operations intern for the Pulaski Yankees (Rookie; Appalachian League) last summer during the 2017 season.
Atwell received her B.A. with a degree in Sports Management from Tusculum College, and received her M.A. with a degree in Human Resource and Development from Tusculum College. A Virginia native, Atwell resides in Greeneville, Tennessee.
“I am extremely excited to get things started at the stadium,” stated Atwell. “I cannot wait to see how we make an impact in this community. This is going to be a great year for the Greeneville Reds!”
Last summer, Justin Rocke served as the play-by-play voice of the Johnson City Cardinals (Rookie; Appalachian League). Justin also serves as the play-by-play broadcaster for Army West Point’s women’s basketball team during the winter.
Rocke has also spent two summers as a play-by-play voice and media relations employee for the Tennessee Smokies (Class AA; Southern League), as well as a year serving as Broadcast and Media Assistant for the Brevard County Manatees (High A; Florida State League). Rocke has also spent two summers as a play-by-play voice of the Bourne Braves in the prestigious Cape Cod Baseball League.
A native of Closter, N.J., Rocke graduated from Penn State University in December 2014 with a degree in broadcast journalism and served as Sports Director of ComRadio, the school’s student radio station. During his time at Penn State, Justin broadcasted multiple Nittany Lions sports, including football, basketball, baseball, and hockey, in addition to calling games for the State College Spikes (Short Season A; NY-Penn League). Rocke also gained experience in his time as a student commentating Penn State men’s and women’s basketball games for the Big Ten Network’s StudentU broadcasts.
“It’s a tremendous honor to spend another summer as a part of the Boyd Sports family,” added Rocke. “I appreciate Chris Allen and Jeremy Boler showing faith in my abilities for yet another season. I am extremely excited to get back down to East Tennessee to work with them, the Reds organization and be the inaugural voice of the Greeneville Reds.”
Brian Cox will oversee the day-to-day operations of the Greeneville Reds as the General Manager. Cox brings a great amount of experience to Greeneville with over 25 years in the baseball industry. Cox will look to build a great foundation for the Greeneville Reds franchise with the addition of both Rocke and Atwell to the staff for the 2018 season.
“We are very excited to add both Kristen and Justin to our team in Greeneville,” added Cox. “Kristen brings a summer of experience working in this league from Pulaski, along with her knowledge of the Greeneville Community. I will again be working with Justin from our time together with the Smokies. Justin brings a very professional attitude with him, along with a very smooth style of broadcasting for our games this season.”
—
In Beloit, the Snappers announced the addition of two new members to their Media Relations and Marketing department.
Eric Hall will take over the duties as the Media Relations and Marketing Manager for the Snappers, and Matt Harvey has been tabbed the Media Relations and Marketing Intern for the 2018 season.
Hall takes the reigns as the Snappers Media Relations and Marketing Manager, as previous manager Garrett Mansfield landed with the Altoona Curve (Class AA; Eastern League). For Hall, he begins his fourth season in Minor League Baseball after serving as the Media Relations Assistant for the Lehigh Valley IronPigs (Class AAA; International League) during the 2017 season.
The Lynchburg, Virginia native is no stranger to the Oakland Athletics organization, as he spent the 2016 season with the organization’s Nashville Sounds (Class AAA; Pacific Coast League). While with the Sounds, Hall worked with former Snappers such as Matt Olson, Bruce Maxwell, Renato Nunez, Daniel Gossett and Matt Chapman.
During his first season of Minor League Baseball in 2015, Hall began his baseball career with his hometown Lynchburg Hillcats (High A; Carolina League) as a communications intern. Midway through the 2015 season he transitioned to a role with the Danville Braves (Rookie; Appalachian League) as their Media Relations Trainee. Prior to his baseball career, Hall graduated from Liberty University (Va.) where he received a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Sports Management in 2014. During his time at Liberty, Hall interned with the Flames football team as an assistant to the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. In addition, he interned his senior year with ESPN radio as a production assistant for the local sports talk show, The Sportsline.
Hall brings along his assistant in Matt Harvey who enters his first season in Minor League Baseball. Matt is currently a senior in his last semester at Penn State University at University Park, Pa. Harvey is majoring in Broadcast Journalism and History and will be graduating and joining the Snappers in May.
The Doylestown, Pennsylvania native is no stranger to baseball, as he has interned the last two summers with the Valley Baseball League in Virginia, a collegiate baseball league. He spent the 2016 season with the league’s media relations department, serving as the league Sports Media intern.
In 2017, Harvey served as the play-by-play broadcaster and media relations intern for the Front Royal Cardinals. With the Cardinals, Matt got a taste of in season baseball with a collegiate summer league team. While at Penn State, Harvey gained experiences on the air in broadcasting, sports writing and reporting, social media and board operations for a variety of Nittany Lions sports. Matt is from Doylestown, Pa, a suburb of Philadelphia. He is an avid fan of all Philadelphia sports teams, especially the Phillies. His favorite baseball players are Chase Utley and Jim Thome.
In their roles, both Hall and Harvey will produce all team content on snappersbaseball.com and the Snappers social media accounts. In addition to content, their other responsibilities will include broadcasting more than 60 games on the Snappers flagship station 103.5 WADR, driving marketing efforts in the Beloit and surrounding area, and coordinating player and front office interviews.