Keefe, Viola, and Gonzalez Return For 2024 Season

Keefe and Staff Return to High Point in 2024
Rockers manager and coaches seek 3rd straight playoff appearance 

HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point Rockers announced today that manager Jamie Keefe and his coaching staff will return for the 2024 season. Over the last four years, Keefe has led the Rockers to 287 victories, more than any other Atlantic League club. In addition to winning both halves of the South Division in 2023, the Rockers have reached the playoffs in three of four seasons.

“We feel we have the best manager in the league,” said Rockers President Pete Fisch. “Jamie and his staff have excelled in putting together clubs that are in contention for the league championship each season. It is a tribute to High Point and the community that we have kept this outstanding group together since our inception.” 

Keefe will be in his 22nd season as a professional manager, a career in which he has won 1,059 games and reached the playoffs in 12 seasons. He will manage in his 2,000th professional game early in the 2024 season.

Joining Keefe for the fifth consecutive season will be pitching coach Frank Viola and bench coach Albert “Bert” Gonzalez.

“I feel like the luckiest guyin baseball to have the coaching staff that the Rockers have,” said Keefe. “It gives me a great sense of comfort to have really smart people around me, but it makes it even more special that I can call them my friends.”

Viola, World Series MVP in 1987 and American League Cy Young Award winner in 1988, mentored the Rockers pitching staff to the best Earned Run Average (4.34) in the ALPB in 2023. The Rockers have sold the contract of 15 pitchers to affiliated organizations under Viola’s tenure.

Gonzalez has been on Keefe’s staff for the past eight years including their time together with the Rockland Boulders before coming to High Point in 2019. He has served as both a collegiate head coach and assistant while managing professionally in the Frontier League. 

Under Keefe and his staff, the Rockers have the most wins in the Atlantic League since High Point joined the league in 2019. The Rockers 287 wins in four seasons and their 154 home victories are the best in the league.

The Rockers are set to open the 2024 campaign at Lexington on Thursday, April 25. The home opener at Truist Point is slated for Tuesday, April 30 against the Charleston Dirty Birds.

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About High Point Baseball, Inc. (2024) 

The High Point Rockers, operated by the non-profit High Point Baseball, play their home games at Truist Point, a state-of-the-art $36 million ballpark which serves as a catalyst to the rejuvenation of downtown High Point. The Rockers have reached the Atlantic League playoffs in three of four years after winning the South Division title in both halves of the 2023 season. The Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, an MLB Partner League, has 10 clubs from New York to North Carolina. For more, visit HighPointRockers.com.

About the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball (ALPB) 

Now in its 26th season, the Atlantic League is Major League Baseball’s first Professional Partner League, a player gateway to the major leagues, and a leader in baseball innovation. ALPB has sent over 1,400 players to MLB organizations while drawing over 46 million fans to its family-friendly ballparks throughout its history. Please visit www.AtlanticLeague.com.