Brewers announce Rattlers' staff

GRAND CHUTE - Four familiar faces return to the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers dugout for the 2012 baseball season.  The Milwaukee Brewers announced today that manager Matt Erickson, pitching coach Chris Hook, hitting coach Dusty Rhodes, and athletic trainer Jeff Paxson are back at Time Warner Cable Field next year.

Erickson, an Appleton native, will enter his second season as the manager of the Rattlers.  The former major leaguer was the hitting coach for Wisconsin in 2009 and 2010 before making his managerial debut last season with Milwaukee's Midwest League affiliate.  The Timber Rattlers were in contention for a playoff spot in both halves of the 2011 season and finished with a record of 67-72.

Hook is back for his fourth season as the pitching coach of the Timber Rattlers.  This will be the fifth season with Brewers organization for Hook, who pitched in the major leagues with the San Francisco Giants during the 1995 and 1996 seasons.

Rhodes, a member of the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, will be Wisconsin's hitting coach for the second straight season.  Rhodes returned to the Brewers organization last year after 23 seasons as the head coach at the University of North Florida.

Paxson is back for his third season as the athletic trainer for the Rattlers.  He was named the Midwest League Trainer of the Year by the Professional Baseball Athletic Trainers Association in both 2010 and 2011.  Paxson enters his nineteenth season with the Brewers.