Former Greensboro Skipper gets shot at the Big Leagues

Former Greensboro Hornets and Bats manager Trey Hillman was hired on Friday to take over as manager of the long suffering Kansas City Royals. It will be Hillman’s first job as a big league skipper.

Hillman managed the Greensboro Hornets in 1991 and 1992 then returned to Greensboro in 1994, serving as manager of the Greensboro Bats during the ’94 and ’95 seasons. Hillman had a combined record during his four seasons in Greensboro of 288-274. His best season in the Gate City was 1992 when he went 74-67 with the Hornets.

Hillman was rumored to be a possible replacement for Joe Torre, who stepped down as Yankees manager on Thursday. Hillman worked as a manager in the New York farm system from 1990 to 2001. Hillman spent three seasons as skipper of the Yankees Triple-A team in Columbus from 1999-2001.

Most recently, Hillman has been in Japan, where he has managed since 2003. In five seasons as the manager of the Nippon Ham Fighters, Hillman lead the Ham Fighters to the Japan Series Championship in 2006 was well as a 1st place division finish this season.

Hillman, who signed a multi-year deal with the Royals, will now try to take a Kansas City team to the playoffs for the first time since 1985.