STEPHEN LARKIN, FIELD MANAGER
Stephen Larkin, a Cincinnati, Ohio native, is the Field Manager for the Champion City Kings. Larkin brings a wealth of experience to the program as a player and a coach.
Larkin played collegiately at the University of Texas which included an appearance in the 1993 College World Series. He was a 10th-round draft choice of the Texas Rangers in 1994 and was traded to the Cincinnati Reds in 1996. Larkin continued to play minor league baseball on various teams until the mid-2000s.
No stranger to the Prospect League, Larkin was an assistant coach for both the West Virginia Miners and the Chillicothe Paints. He was the Field Manager for the Cape Girardeau Catfish from 2019 through 2021 where he was named Prospect League Manager of the Year in both 2019 and 2021. His 2021 squad won the Prospect League Championship.
In addition to coaching summer collegiate teams, Larkin has coached baseball and football at Archbishop Moeller High School in Cincinnati and has been a hitting instructor at several private baseball academies and camps. Currently, he is a hitting instructor for MLB International, served as the third base coach in the 2023 Baseball United Dubai All-Star Showcase, and is a camp instructor and gives individual lessons for the Reds Urban Youth Academy.
GREG KEATON, ASSISTANT COACH
Greg Keaton has been tabbed as Assistant Coach for the Champion City Kings. He is currently an assistant coach at West Virginia State University. Keaton went to WVSU after a four-year stint at NCAA Division II Lenoir-Rhyne University (2014-2017).
Preceding Lenoir-Rhyne, Keaton coached at USC-Sumter during the first six seasons (2008-2013) of the program’s inception. The Fire Ants compiled a 243-103 (.701) mark over the course of those six seasons and won a pair of Region 10 Championships in 2009 (52-11) and 2011 (41-11) with Keaton as their hitting and catching coach. His previous collegiate stops include Prince George Community College (Md.), Montgomery College (Md.), Davis & Elkins College (W.Va.), and WVU Tech.
Keaton coached high school baseball at both Logan (WV) and South Charleston (WV). At Logan, Keaton was part of four state championship teams as a player and a coach. He was inducted into the Logan High School Hall of Fame in 2009.
As a summer league head coach, Keaton worked in multiple conferences. Keaton was the hitting coach for the West Virginia Miners of The Prospect League in 2015 and 2016, helping lead the team to a league championship in the summer of 2016. He has had the pleasure of working with over 90 players who have signed professional contracts.
Mark Lucas, Assistant General Manager/Assistant Coach
Mark has been with the Kings since 2014 and brings a wealth of baseball knowledge and experience to the franchise. He is a graduate of Springfield North High school and Wright State University. Lucas excelled at shortstop at both institutions.
After his junior year in college, he signed a free agent contract with the Atlanta Braves. He was considered a multi-position player as a professional and led the Greenwood Braves (Class A) in hitting with a .359 average in his rookie year. Mark played three and a half years in the pros and after that competed in amateur baseball in the Springfield/Dayton area until age 46.
In addition, Mark has coached baseball at the high school level as well as at the University of Dayton and Wright State University. He was inducted into the Springfield/Clark County Baseball Hall of Fame in 2002, the Wright State Walk of Fame in 2005 and the Dayton Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006. Currently, Mark serves as the President of the Springfield/Clark County Baseball Hall of Fame.