The Kamloops NorthPaws have named World Series champion Brian Anderson as their new head coach.

The 40-year-old from Tucson, Arizona will take the reigns from his former minor league teammate, Cole Armstrong, as the NorthPaws prepare for their sophomore West Coast League season in 2023.

Armstrong, a Surrey native, guided the expansion NorthPaws to the playoffs this past summer, making them just the fourth West Coast League team to qualify for the playoffs in their debut season.

“Cole and I share the same approach of really stressing player development. In order for them to not get burnt out, I think you have to create an environment where they want to show up to the ballpark every day,” Anderson said.

“We’re really looking forward to the summer because, as much as I love Arizona, if you can get out of that summer heat for a few months and go coach baseball in a beautiful town like Kamloops it’s tough to beat. [My family and I are] really looking forward to it.”

Anderson, a centre fielder, was the Chicago White Sox first round pick in the 2003 MLB Draft. He won a World Series with the WhiteSox during his rookie season in 2005.

He played 355 games over five seasons in the Majors with the White Sox and Boston Red Sox, hitting for a career .227 average. In 2010, he converted to a pitcher and spent time in the Kansas City Royals and New York Yankees minor league systems.

“I can tell you this much, I failed at the highest level more time than I was successful, so one approach I used last year and continue to use this year is I don’t tell my players that they have to do things a certain way, but I do tell them the things that don’t work,” Anderson added.

“I tell them my job is to protect them from doing things over and over that I know aren’t conducive to become a great player.”

Anderson is currently the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for Pima Community College in his hometown and finished a stint as the pitching coach for team New Zealand at the World Baseball Classic qualifiers in Panama earlier this fall.

Last season, he was also the assistant coach and first base coach for the University of Arizona, the same program where he set a hit streak record and earned All-American honours in three years as a player at the start of this millennium.

The NorthPaws will be Anderson’s first stint leading a collegiate summer baseball team.

“Summer ball, the main thing it did for me was it humbled me,” he said. “Summer ball exposed my weaknesses so I could go back to the University of Arizona and work on that when I got back so I could improve my game.”

“If you can keep these kids bought in and excited to show up to the field every day, I think that’s the kind of secret sauce in order to be successful in the summer.”