The bond of Tommy & Jirsch
How a former Dash player has become the youngest manager in professional baseball with the same coach who shaped him into the skipper he is today.
Starting off his day in 2014 with an early arrival to his new clubhouse home in Winston-Salem around 12:30 p.m., Justin Jirschele plopped down next to his locker ready to begin his pregame preparation. With the first pitch scheduled for 7:00 p.m. and it still being early on in the season, many of his teammates had yet to arrive leaving the locker room basically deserted.
As Jirschele began to get his things in order, he noticed a small box sitting next to his locker addressed to him, from his girlfriend — now wife — Liz. Before the infielder had the chance to open up the gift, a beaming voice came tumbling through the doors.
Jirschele could hear his new manager Tommy Thompson before he saw him. Thompson wasted no time to mouth off at Jirschele for whatever the new day’s topic was and Jirschele was giving it right back, all in fun of course.
But, Jirschele had taken it a bit too far when he made a remark that seemed to have struck a nerve in Thompson.
“He took the box and spiked it on the ground and stomped on it,” said Jirschele. “And when he stomped on it, we just heard glass shatter. So, I looked at him because I didn’t know what was in it and the look he gave me, just complete fear. Right away he was like, ‘I thought your grandma sent you cookies. Open that up, open that up, what’s in there?’”
The two later discovered that Liz had sent Jirschele a picture frame filled with a photo of the couple from the last time she came to visit him at the Dash stadium.
While Thompson obviously felt guilty for his actions of imitating Homer Jones’ — former NFL wide receiver for the New York Giants — touchdown celebrations in the end zone, Jirschele oddly enough appreciated this reaction for the sheer fact that it showed the infielder just what kind of manager Thompson really was: a goofball.
As he wraps up his first full year as the Winston-Salem Dash manager, Jirschele credits his pristine knowledge of the game to some of his most influential role models.
To pick out the obvious, his father, Mike Jirschele has been the Kansas City Royals third base coach since 2014 and even went on to help coach the team to a World Series title in 2015. Justin’s brother, Jeremy, also played in the Royals organization for three seasons before hanging up his hat to become the head baseball coach at Wisconsin-Stevens Point.
With a family line filled with coaches and managers, Jirschele always knew where his future might take him in baseball.
But, before committing his life completing to coaching, the infielder was signed as a non-drafted free agent by the Chicago White Sox in 2012 after his time at Wisconsin-Stevens Point playing Division III baseball. Jirschele’s playing career began to take off in Great Falls, Mont., with the rookie-level team, before ending his first full season with the Low-A Kannapolis Intimidators.
With his third season in the Minor Leagues on the way, Jirschele earned a promotion to the Dash.
While in Winston-Salem, Jirschele did play, but he also was gifted the opportunity to coach third base in place of Thompson for an inning, giving the infielder a feel of his natural abilities and preview of what’s to come.
“[Carlos] Rodon was pitching, the number one pick, and the game was on TV and my boss was [Assistant General Manager] Buddy Bell, and he called our trainer (Josh Fallin) wanting to know what the hell Jirschele was doing at third base,” said Thompson.
“I made up a lie saying my back was sore. I did have a stem machine on my back. But, he said, ‘If you can’t get out there, I’ll send somebody else.’ So when Jirsch came in, he had scored runs, and I said, ‘I got to take you off third’, and he said, ‘Why man, we’re scoring runs?’ and I said, ‘Because, the boss just cussed me out’.”
During this time, Jirschele was on the disabled list, which erased any type of playing time for a few weeks and ultimately made the game a little more tough to be apart of. But, being put out at third base and waving around current White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson and all of his buddies, gave Jirschele just the confidence he needed to begin thinking seriously about his coaching career.
Continuing to climb his way up the ladder in 2015, Jirschele had garnered a promotion to the Double-A Birmingham Barons, where his career line changed forever.
Jirschele received a visit from the White Sox then-director of player development, Nick Capra, who had taken notice in the player’s ability to recognize technical aspects of the game that other players never caught onto. Offering Jirschele a position as the new hitting coach with the Great Falls Voyagers, Capra gave Jirschele some time to think over his decision, but the future manager had already made up his mind.
“Once I actually started thinking about it and my future seriously was when I started playing in pro ball and that’s when it started to become more real,” said Jirschele. “And when the time came, I was kind of more prepared for it, just by laying out the future and thinking about what I wanted to do. When the time did come, I wasn’t really surprised that they offered me a coaching job per se, and so I guess I had thought about it enough that I was ready for it.”
With a year as the hitting coach for Great Falls and a year in the same position with Low-A Kannapolis, Jirschele was ready for his newest promotion as the Kannapolis manager. After two full successful seasons with the Intimidators, Jirschele was moved up to Winston-Salem where flashbacks of his playing time with Thompson all began to flood back.
And now, that story continues.
With some of the greatest experience in managerial history, Thompson has been coaching the bases for more than 15 years after handing in his jersey with the Atlanta Braves organization as a catcher and infielder for 10 seasons, so it’s safe to say that Thompson knows a thing or two about baseball.
Passing along the baton to his former player and current co-worker, Thompson continues to assist Jirschele in any way he can whether it’s throwing batting practice, working with the catchers, or even hitting ground balls for infield work.
With Jirschele coaching third base and Thompson covering first, these two have been able to feed off of one another when it comes to discussing the pressing questions of the game.
Should they send the runner home?
Should they play the infield in or back?
Should they give the steal sign?
While at the end of the day these decisions are up to Jirschele, the 29-year old still looks up to Thompson as a role model with a constant open ear.
“I suggest some things to him, but I let him manage, I let him coach,” said Thompson. “Because the only way to learn is by going through things good and bad. Sending a guy, not sending a guy, keeping the fans out of it, and doing what’s best for the players and the organization.”
Some of Thompson’s coaching styles have even rubbed off on Jirschele, whether he likes to admit it or not. This includes the way Jirschele tries to keep things loose for his team, how he makes in-game decisions, and even how he rushes towards the umpires with fighting words to defend his players when they seem to make, how would you say, inadequate calls.
A manager’s obligations can range from handling the players, fans, coaching staff, and even the front office when things get hectic, but their most valuable job is to work individually with the players to ultimately make them better.
So, one day back when Jirschele was playing under Thompson, the 61-year old was implementing his most valuable responsibility with Jirschele in the batting cages and the two had an encounter that they will remember forever.
“I think one of the funniest memories was in Zebulon in Carolina with Gary Ward, the hitting guy,” said Thompson. “An ex-big league player, ex-big league hitting coach. I was flipping Jirsch in one cage, and Gary was with the other hitters and he asked me, ‘What is he doing?’ and Jirsch made the wrong comment, he said, ‘I’m getting loose’. And Gary said, ‘Wrong answer, you’re not getting loose.’”
As Jirschele realized his mistake when he found out who Ward was, the three were able to laugh off the incident, which had Thompson close to tears in laughter.
Coming a long way from smashing picture frames in the locker room and mouthing off at important baseball figures in the batting cages, Jirschele and Thompson have grown to form a rare and invincible bond through the game of baseball.
With Jirschele continually climbing up the ladder as a freshly combed manager with the White Sox, Thompson will maintain his position as a ‘helper’.
Since the 61-year old hung up his hat as a skipper, Thompson has been sitting back and enjoying the crazy ride of baseball, while also adding in his two cents every once in a while.
Together, Jirschele and Thompson bring a dominating, yet goofy presence to the field each and every day to help improve their players’ skill work, while at the same time, creating an enjoyable and smile-filled atmosphere to remind these young men what baseball is all about.
