Padres’ new manager, Jayce Tingler, has deep ties to Kansas City area
While Smithville is firmly in Royals country, don’t be surprised if more people are spotted wearing San Diego Padres caps around town.
That’s because Smithville native Jayce Tingler, 38, is poised to be the next Padres manager, the team’s website announced.
Tingler was born and raised in Smithville and still lives there. At Smithville High School, Tingler played baseball and set the school scoring record in basketball. His mother, Diana, was a girls basketball coach at Smithville High, while his father, Steve, coached hoops at at West Platte.
“I had a good opportunity growing up with my parents,” Tingler told The Star in 1999. “They know the game. I worked hard growing up. I expected to be successful.”
Tingler then attended Mizzou and was a standout baseball player.
While batting leadoff for the Tigers, Tingler nearly matched an NCAA record by reaching base in 16 consecutive plate appearances (six singles, nine walks and hit by a pitch). The record was 17.
A left-handed hitter, Tingler played center field and was a freshman All-American at Mizzou. He had a keen eye at the plate.
“I’ve said all along he’s the key to our offense,” Tim Jamieson, who was Mizzou’s coach at the time, told The Star in 2001. “When he gets on base, we can hit-and-run, we can steal, we can bunt, we can do so many different things. He puts extra pressure on everyone.”
The Padres’ site notes that Tingler played summer ball for the Hays Larks in Kansas in the Jayhawk League. One of his teammates? Albert Pujols, who played at Fort Osage High.
“Upon word of Tingler’s hiring on Thursday, Pujols reached out to members of the Padres front office to express his enthusiasm with the decision,” A. J. Cassavell reported on the Padres’ site.
While at Mizzou, Tingler befriended a player he will now manage: Ian Kinsler, the Padres’ second baseman. Both were drafted in 2003 with Kinsler being taken by the Rangers and Tingler joining the Blue Jays organization.
While Kinsler became an All-Star, Tingler never advanced beyond Double-A. He became the hitting coach for the Rangers’ Dominican Summer League team in 2007, then took over as the DSL manager for the 2008-09 seasons. Tingler also managed the Rangers’ Arizona League team in 2010. In all three seasons as manager, his teams made the playoffs.
Tingler was promoted to coordinator of instruction of the Rangers’ Arizona and Dominican Republic operations in 2011. The following year, he became Texas’ minor-league field coordinator, and supervised on-field instruction for minor-league players. Tingler also was in charge of organization for spring training and instructional league.
In 2015, Tingler joined the Rangers’ coaching staff as field coordinator and outfield and base-running coach, a job he held for two years before working as an assistant to the general manager from 2017-18. This past season, he was their major-league player development field coordinator.
Through all these stops, Tingler has always called Smithville home. He lives there with his wife Callie and their sons Gabe, 7, and Gio, 6.
Smithville was clearly pleased a native son is getting a chance to be a major-league manager:
This story was originally published October 25, 2019 at 9:58 AM.
