PENSACLOA, Fl.- Former Saint Rose baseball standout Kevin Graber '92 has helped guide the Chicago Cubs' AA affiliate, the Tennessee Smokies, to the Southern League Championship.
Graber finished the season as the interim manager for the Smokies, who secured the Southern League title with a 10-3 victory over the Pensacola Blue Wahoos last weekend. The win capped a best-of-three series that earned Tennessee its first league championship in 45 years.
Graber began the year as a roving base-running coordinator in the Cubs' organization before being named to the interim role in early June. From his appointment forward, the Smokies finished in first place over the course of the second half to earn a playoff spot out of the Southern League's Northern Division.
"I started as sort of a substitute teacher for a game, rescheduled a flight, and then I was asked to stay on board," Graber shared with the Schenectady Daily Gazette. "At that point, when the All-Star break rolls around, there's a first half and a second half, and that was an opportunity to start from scratch with the team."
"One of the things I've prided myself on is whatever the organization needs, when they asked me, I snapped to it. I'm never presumptuous about what my role is or what I want to do. I've never been one to put major league baseball on a dartboard and make that the goal. I'm more of the guy who gets in that river and swims and sees where it leads and do the best I can."
Tennessee closed out the regular season and playoffs with victories in 10 of their final 11 contests, including last week's championship-clinching victory in Florida.
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