GM Interview: Yakima Bears' Ken Wombacher

Ken Wombacher grew up in Tacoma, Washington, and has been involved with the Diamondbacks Short Season A affiliate Yakima Bears since 2002 when he interned with the club. Quickly offered a full time position, he moved up the ranks and in September was named the General Manager of the Bears.

James Renwick:  You were an intern just under three years ago, and now you're the GM, how did you move up so quickly.

Ken Wombacher:  I started in January of 2002 as an intern, and was offered a full time job right away.  I moved up steadily in the organization and they approached me last summer with the opportunity to be GM.  The original plan was to promote the former GM to Vice President, but he took another job in the community, so it's become my show.  The ownership group has put a lot of confidence in me, and I really am looking to build up the presence of the Bears in the community.

JR:  What exactly is it that you're looking to do differently with the Bears?

KW:  I really want to focus on building the Yakima Bears brand up in the community.  We used to have a lot stronger presence in the Yakima area, and I'd like to build that up again.  We're getting more involved in kids programs, giving them incentives for good behavior, good grades, and we're getting involved in the Little League programs out here.  It's just a more aggressive sales approach.  Last season might have been the worst attendance in the history of the club, and I'm looking to change that.  We're out knocking on doors, creating a picture of a place where families can come and watch the Major League Baseball superstars of the future. 

JR:  While baseball is obviously the most important thing, what else does the franchise do in terms of preparing players to move up?

KW:  We get a lot of first year players here.  As far as the baseball side of things, we get most of our direction from the Diamondbacks, but what we do is really introduce the players to the community side of things.  We get the players involved in community events, participating in events and programs.  Part of the minor league development contract states that these players need to participate, and you can see a little hesitation at first, but pretty quickly the players learn the value of these programs, and they start to see how much fun it is to talk to the kids and the fans.

JR:  There are 22 former Bears currently on 40 man rosters right now, how much credit do the Bears take for that?

KW:  I'd love to say that's all us, but it's not.  The credit there goes to the Diamondbacks and their scouts.  We really get specific instructions when it comes to playing time, what they are working on, just about everything.  Our job here is to get hitters used to using wooden bats, pitchers used to pitching inside, and most importantly, get the players used to the difference between pro ball and amateur baseball.  I think the biggest difference between the amateur ranks and the pro game is the speed of the game.  And it only gets faster the higher up you go.  I think the Diamondbacks have done a great job at figuring out exactly when to move guys up.  So much of baseball is about confidence, and if a guy is moved up too quickly and just gets destroyed at the next level it can really hurt.  The Diamondbacks have been great about knowing when guys are ready to be promoted.

JR:  How much do you know about what your coaching staff will look like.  We've heard that Bill Plummer is going to Lancaster, but that's still unconfirmed.

KW:  We've heard that rumor too, but it really hasn't been confirmed.  At the Winter Meetings the Diamondbacks had an affiliate meeting and they really laid out a path for us.  They talked about how all the affiliates are in this together, that we will be working together and working toward a common goal.  The organization has told us that we should really know more by Monday, so that's the day everything really gets rolling.

JR:  Thanks again, and we'll talk more as things become clearer.

KW:  Thanks.