The Padres have made a change to their player-development staff. Lance Burkhart is the new manager of the Single-A Lake Elsinore Storm.
Burkhart takes over for Francisco Morales, who resigned last week for undisclosed reasons. Morales was suspended by the Padres organization for the start of the 2016 California League season because of an incident that took place at San Diego’s academy in the Dominican Republic. It is unknown if his resignation is related.
The 41-year-old Burkhart gets the promotion to Lake Elsinore after serving as the Low-A Fort Wayne TinCaps hitting coach since 2015. He was part of the staff that helped the TinCaps to a Midwest League Eastern Division championship. Burkhart’s only managerial experience came in 2014 when he skippered the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs to a 68-72 finish in the independent Atlantic League.
A 15th round selection by the Montreal Expos in 1997, Burkhart played eight seasons of affiliated baseball, reaching as high as Triple-A.
