He spent six seasons as a minor league manager with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, Montreal Expos and St. Louis Cardinals organizations.

He earned Baseball America and Pacific Coast League manager of the year honors in 1998 with Triple-A Iowa.

Orv Franchuk will replace Kennedy as the Missions' hitting coach.

A four-time All-Star, Kennedy batted .264 in 14 Major League seasons with the Cardinals (1978-80), Padres (1981-86), Baltimore Orioles (1987-88) and San Francisco Giants (1989-91).

He played in the 1984 World Series with San Diego and in 1989 with San Francisco. In 1983, Kennedy received the Silver Slugger Award as the Major League's top-hitting catcher.

Kennedy served as the hitting coach for Seattle's Triple-A Tacoma affiliate in 1995 and 1996.

His previous coaching experience also includes serving as the roving catching instructor in the Montreal system in 1994, and minor league field coordinator and roving catching instructor for the Cubs in 2000 and 2001.

The 64-year-old Franchuk, a veteran of more than 30 years in Baseball, had worked for five organizations. He spent the last two years in the Houston Astros system as minor-league hitting coordinator. He spent four seasons in the same role for the Boston Red Sox from 2003-06.

Bill Masse, the Missions' first-year manager during the 2008 season, stepped down in September.

The Missions hit .269 as a team last season, the fifth best average in the Texas League.

The team combined to go 75-65 over the first and second halves last season and qualified for the Texas League playoffs as a wild card team.

They were swept in the first round by Frisco.