KANSAS CITY, Kan. – The Kansas City T-Bones and manager Joe Calfapietra have announced the club’s coaching staff for the 2017 season. Bill Sobbe and Frank White are returning for their sixth season each, while Darin Gorski and Ed Ott will be joining the team for the first time.

“We have a great mix of valuable coaches on this staff,” said T-Bones Vice-President and General Manager Chris Browne. “I can’t say enough about the contributions to the staff and organization that Bill Sobbe and Frank White have made over the years. We are lucky to have them. Then, with Darin Gorski following in former T-Bone Greg Bicknell’s shoes as a player/pitching coach and the addition of Ed Ott for spring training, this should be a solid staff.

“Like me, I know Joe is excited to start working with these guys.”

Sobbe, who joined the T-Bones as bench coach before the 2012 season, and then served as the pitching coach for the past three seasons, will move to hitting coach/catching instructor for 2017. For 20 seasons, 1984-2003, Sobbe was the Kansas City Royals’ bullpen catcher, working with some of the organization’s best pitchers including Bret Saberhagen, Mark Gubicza, Danny Jackson, Dan Quisenberry and Jeff Montgomery. Sobbe played three seasons, 1979-81, in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ organization, reaching Double-A in ’81. Sobbe, who started a career in education in 1982, spent more than 15 years in the nearby Park Hill School District as a coach, athletic director and assistant principal, before retiring in 2013.

White, a Kansas City Royals Hall of Fame player, returns for his sixth season as the T-Bones’ first base coach. White enjoyed an 18-year playing career, 1973-90, when he established himself as one of the top second basemen in baseball. He was an eight-time Gold Glove Award winner, the MVP of the 1980 ALCS, and batted cleanup during the 1985 World Series. White’s coaching career began in 1992 in the Boston organization. He was the Royals’ first base coach from 1997-2001, and then managed Double-A Wichita from 2004-06.

Gorski, 29 (10-06-87), will be a player-coach for the T-Bones this season, replacing Sobbe as the team’s pitching coach. As a pitcher, the left-handed Gorski, who’s 6-foot-4 and 215 pounds, has played the majority of his eight-year career in the New York Mets’ organization. In 2016, splitting time between Triple-A Las Vegas and Somerset of the independent Atlantic League, Gorski went a combined 10-6 with a 4.95 ERA in 129 innings. Gorski, whom the Mets picked in the seventh round of the 2009 MLB June Amateur Draft out of the University of Pennsylvania, has spent most of his time in Triple-A. He has a career record of 62-45 with a 4.07 ERA in 187 games (163 starts). He has struck out 809 and walked 350.

Ott, who coached with Calfapietra in New Jersey, will join the T-Bones as a special assignment coach in 2017, working with the club during spring training. Ott spent eight seasons as a catcher in the major leagues, 1974-81, most notably with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was a career .259 hitter with 465 hits, 33 home runs, 195 RBIs and 196 runs scored in 567 games.

The T-Bones open the 2017 regular season at home on May 19 against Lincoln. Tickets are available by calling the Providence Medical Center Box Office at CommunityAmerica Ballpark at 913-328-5618.