An entirely new field staff will lead the Quad-Cities River Bandits in 2010, but the club's new manager is no stranger to the Midwest League.

Johnny Rodriguez, who has 28 years of coaching experience at the minor-league and college levels, will manage the Cardinals' Midwest League affiliate while 28-year-old Tim Leveque will be the River Bandits' new pitching coach.

St. Louis announced the moves Wednesday, promoting from within the organization as part of a shuffle involving a dozen minor-league coaches.

"I'm excited for the opportunity," Rodriguez said. "We will have some good young players and we expect them to give 110 percent for the fans. When people get away from their 9-to-5 craziness, they want to see players entertain and play hard, and that is what we are about."

Rodriguez knows the territory of the expanded 16-team Midwest League.

He worked as hitting coach at Clinton in 2001 with an outfield that included Grady Sizemore, Jason Bay and Brandon Watson, players who went on to reach the major leagues.

"It's not an easy league, but it challenges players to become better, and that is what we are here for, to help them," Rodriguez said. "It is up to us to teach them how to prepare and how to put themselves in a position where they have a chance to win in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings. We want all of our guys to be players who our opponents must respect."

St. Louis director of minor-league operations John Vuch said the River Bandits staff is being assembled with an eye on development.

"As our Quad-Cities club has gotten younger in the last few years, instruction at this level has become increasingly important and our staff will reflect that commitment to developing our players," Vuch said.

Rodriguez, the father of Tampa Bay Rays infielder Sean Rodriguez, joined the St. Louis organization before the 2009 season as a hitting coach at short-season Johnson City.

He previously worked as a manager or coach in the minors for the Marlins, Expos and Yankees organizations. He also worked as a scout for the Astros, Angels, Mets and Brewers and has coached at Miami (Fla.) and Miami Dade Community College at the college level.

This summer at short-season Johnson City, Rodriguez, 53, worked with hitters who finished second in the Appalachian League with 65 home runs and a .417 slugging percentage on a 37-30 team.

Leveque was the pitching coach at short-season Batavia (N.Y.) last season, where his staff had a combined 3.65 ERA and the third-highest strikeout total in the New York-Penn League.

A former Michigan baseball player who was drafted out of high school by the Tigers, Leveque joined the Cardinals in 2006 as a pitching specialist who coordinated and studied videos of draft-eligible pitchers. His first coaching assignment came in 2008, when he worked as the pitching coach at Johnson City.

St. Louis has not yet assigned a hitting coach and strength and conditioning coach to Quad-Cities, although it has named Manabu Kuwazuru as the River Bandits' trainer.

The Cardinals chose not to renew the contract of Steve Dillard, the River Bandits' manager the past two seasons.

Joe Kruzel and Ace Adams, the team's hitting and pitching coaches the past two years, have been reassigned by St. Louis to short-season Batavia. Brian Puchalski, the River Bandits trainer last season, has been promoted to high-A Palm Beach (Fla.).