PEORIA — The Peoria Chiefs are running it back with Roberto Espinoza.
The parent club St. Louis Cardinals designated Espinoza to return for a second season as manager of the High-A Peoria team in the Midwest League. He is the only returning member of the field staff from the 2025 season.
The Chiefs open the 2026 season on the road at Cedar Rapids on April 3. Their home opener is scheduled for April 7 against the South Bend Cubs.
Season tickets and luxury group spaces are currently available for the 2026 season. For more information, fans can visit peoriachiefs.com or call the Dozer Park box office at (309) 680-4000.
Here’s a look at the Chiefs coaches and on-field staff for 2026:
Roberto Espinoza, manager
Espinoza, 36, is the lone returnee from last year’s staff. The Chiefs finished last in the 12-team league in 2025 with an overall record of 51-79. Espinoza will launch his 13th season in the Cardinals organization in 2026. He notched his 200th win as a manager last summer with a 7-1 decision over Cedar Rapids on May 18.
Espinoza was an international free agent signed by St. Louis as a catcher in 2006, and played 202 games in the organization over five years.
Michael Oh, pitching coach
Oh has moved quickly through the coaching ranks. After pitching collegiately at the University of North Carolina and UNC-Charlotte, he joined the 49ers coaching staff in 2023 as a pitching coordinator and was promoted to pitching coach in 2024.
Last year, Oh was the pitching coach for the single-A Palm Beach Cardinals. While there, he oversaw a staff that ranked third in the Florida State League in strikeouts (1,218).
Michael Habas, hitting coach
Habas was hired by the Cardinals after spending the previous two seasons as a minor league hitting coach in the Washington Nationals system. Prior to that, he coached four seasons in the Milwaukee Brewers organization.
Habas, who is from Chicago, graduated from Homewood-Flossmoor High School in 2009.
Jason Eary, bench coach
Eary spent the last three seasons as St. Louis University. Prior to the Billikens stint, he served in a player development role at UNLV.
Wade Stauss, assistant coach
The Cardinals decided to expand the coaching staffs of their farm clubs in 2026, adding a fifth member to each, designated as an assistant coach. Stauss, a former catcher with the Chiefs, will fill that role in Peoria.
He played for Southeast Missouri State and signed with St. Louis as a free agent in the minors in 2021. Stauss appeared in 26 games over parts of two seasons with the Chiefs, and the Wildwood, Mo., native delivered a two-home run game for Peoria at Quad Cities on June 28, 2022.
He played 138 games in the Cardinals organization.
Chiefs Briefs
Kily Gilbert arrives as the new certified athletic trainer for the Chiefs. She was hired by the Cardinals in November after time in the Houston Astros organization. … Ryuta Takahashi is Peoria’s new strength and conditioning coach. He spent 2025 with the FCL Cardinals. … Alexarmando Diaz fills the Chiefs’ Baseball Technology Fellow position, and will lead the team’s day-to-day video efforts. … Former Chiefs manager Patrick Anderson, the reigning Texas League Manager of the Year, returns at the helm of Class AA Springfield. … Elvis Rodriguez, who spent the last two seasons as hitting coach for Peoria, is promoted to the same role at AA Springfield. … Luis Arenado, Peoria’s bench coach last season, moves up to AA Springfield.
Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men’s basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on X.com @icetimecleve.