As readers of The Corral have known for nearly two weeks, there was some major Cowboy baseball news on Tuesday morning. Former Cowboy, Major League All-Star and big league manager Robin Ventura is joining Josh Holliday's coaching staff for the 2020 season.

After a long MLB career - both as a player and manager - with the Chicago White Sox, part of the reason for Ventura's return to Oklahoma State is to finish his degree. That explains his title for the upcoming season; Student Assistant.

“Robin Ventura will enhance the lives of our players — his experiences inside the game of baseball as a college player, major league player and major league manager provide rare and unique perspective to all of us inside the program,” said Holliday. “When Robin expressed interest in coming back and finishing his degree and joining our coaching staff, it was exciting. In addition to being an amazing player, Robin is an amazing person, teammate and leader who understands people and what a successful organization is all about. He brings people together and has a love for OSU that led him back to campus.

“What a statement about the value of finishing your degree and giving back to the school that helped launch your career. We have a very special coaching staff that will provide our players an amazing experience and a perspective on the game unlike any other in the country.”

The OSU staff is now comprised of three full-time coaches who have all spent time at the helm of their own program - Holliday, Rob Walton (ORU) and Marty Lees (Washington State) - on top of a pair of MLB All-Stars in Ventura and Matt Holliday.

Ventura has a decorated baseball resumé at the collegiate and professional levels. A three-time All-American at OSU from 1986-88, he is a National College Baseball Hall of Fame inductee who played 16 seasons in Major League Baseball, where he was a six-time Gold Glove winning third baseman and was twice named an All-Star. Following his playing career, he spent five seasons as the manager of the Chicago White Sox.

“I’m really excited to do this,” Ventura said. “For me, I could do quite a few things, but Oklahoma State and Cowboy Baseball is special. I wanted to do and be somewhere that meant a lot to me, not just the baseball part — I love baseball and coaching and being a part of that — but being at Oklahoma State adds an extra layer of specialness to me.

“The people here are family to me, this place means a lot to me and the program means a lot to me. All of it came together with Josh’s help and Josh’s wishes and being with this staff and guys who I’ve known a long time makes it very exciting to be back here.”

The tandem of Ventura and Matt Holliday bring a whopping 31 years of big league playing experience (Ventura 16, Holliday 15), nine All-Star appearances (Holliday 7, Ventura 2) and five seasons of managing an MLB team (Ventura).

With Tuesday's news, excitement for the 2020 season and the opening of O'Brate Stadium is approaching a crescendo.