Giants hire ninth strength and conditioning coach to John Harbaugh’s … — and more

John Harbaugh stacked his new Giants staff on Friday with a ninth coach in the strength and conditioning department.

Sam Rosengarten is following Harbaugh to New York from the Ravens to become the Giants’ new “director of high performance,” the same title he held in his ninth and final season in Baltimore.

This is an interesting title because it sounds similar to Aaron Wellman’s. Wellman is the Giants’ “executive director of player performance.” Harbaugh already announced he was retaining Wellman from the previous staff.

The team website still lists Wellman at the top of the Giants’ “strength and conditioning / performance” hierarchy, though, with Rosengarten as second-in-command and Ron Shrift — another Harbaugh Baltimore hire — on board as the “director of strength and conditioning.”

In addition to Rosengarten, Harbaugh hired five football analysts on Friday: Skyler Mornhinweg, Taylor Kolste, Patrick Moynahan, Kyrell Michael and Bonner Bordelon. Mornhinweg is the son of longtime NFL coach Marty Mornhinweg.

Harbaugh’s nine-man strength staff now includes six holdovers and three new hires.

Wellman, assistant strength and conditioning coach Chris Allen, performance manager/assistant strength and conditioning coach Sam Coad, director of performance nutrition Matthew Frakes, assistant strength and conditioning coach Mark Naylor and assistant director of strength and conditioning Drew Wilson are back.

Rosengarten, Shrift and assistant strength coach Brian Ellis are all new.

The evolution of this crowded staff will be interesting to watch. Harbaugh’s turnover of the building included a major shakeup in hiring new head athletic trainer Adam Bennett from the University of Miami, with Ronnie Barnes moving out of his longtime position to continue overseeing medical services in some capacity, per the team.

Rosengarten has nine seasons of NFL experience, all with the Ravens. He held the same role in Baltimore, where he oversaw player monitoring systems, training load management, recovery protocols, and performance analytics.

The Giants say he “integrated real-time biometric monitoring during practice, advanced player‑monitoring protocols and injury‑prevention strategies tailored to the demands of the NFL.” And “his expertise helped shape new data applications within the organization, driving innovation in injury forecasting and personalized athlete development to enhance player availability, optimize performance and support overall team success.”

Before arriving in Baltimore, Rosengarten led the Buffalo Sabres’ injury‑prevention program for two NHL seasons and oversaw all day‑to‑day care of the players. He also has consulted previously for the NBA’s Knicks and Oklahoma City Thunder.

He seems to arrive with the credentials and title of someone who will one day run this department. For now, he is a part of a crowded collaboration as the Giants forge ahead and attempt to improve all operations.

Kerry Robinson grew up in St. Louis attending Hazelwood East High School, and he would watch St. Louis Cardinals games with a close friend. He dreamed of playing for the Cardinals one day. In 2001, a dream that could have seemed unlikely came to fruition.

You see, Robinson was drafted by the Cardinals in 1995, but in the 1998 expansion draft, he ended up with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. After a few MLB games with the Rays and a few with the Cincinnati Reds in 1999, he found himself back in St. Louis in 2001 competing for a spot on the MLB roster.

After a short stint in Triple-A with the Memphis Redbirds, Robinson was sitting in the same seats he and his friend would sit in back when they were kids. But he wasn’t a fan this time around — he was soaking in the moment right before taking part in batting practice.

“Before batting practice, the first day I was there, I sat in those seats for like 20 minutes. I was like, ‘Man, I dreamed of being here. Now I have to go make the most of it,'” Robinson said during a recent visit to Joplin with the Cardinals Caravan.

Those seats were directly behind home plate. He said he and his friend would buy the cheap tickets up at the top of the stadium but would move down to seats behind home that always seemed to be open every night they were there. He recalled watching his favorite Cardinals outfielder growing up, Ray Lankford.

He got three seasons at the pro level with St. Louis and played in more than 100 games each year before being traded in 2004 to the San Diego Padres. He played 80 games out west, and in 2005, he didn’t play in the big leagues. In 2006, he played part of the season for the Kansas City Royals before completing his career.

The 32-year-old retired. Five years later, he stepped into a new role in the Cardinals organization, and today, he’s starting his 16th year as a pro scout.

“I wanted to stick around and be a part of baseball as long as I could, and they’ve had me all these years. Hopefully, I’ve contributed something over all those years,” Robinson said.

His first year was 2011, the year the Cardinals won the World Series with David Freese’s home run in Game 6 against the Texas Rangers. Robinson said he got to contribute that year by recommending a signing of Rafael Furcal.

“At first, Mo (general manager John Mozeliak) said that wasn’t an option. A week and a half later, he trades for him,” Robinson said.

Robinson also recalled the memorable “happy flight” celebrations from Furcal after wins. Furcal would celebrate wins before a trip to a new city by chanting, “Happy flight, happy flight, happy flight.”

Now 52, Robinson is still scouting talent and making suggestions to try and build up another World Series-contending team just like the 2011 team that won it and the 2013 team that lost in the World Series.

He sees a team full of players similar to the place he was once in.

“These young players have an ability to make a name for themselves. The fans are starving for guys that they can cling to and say ‘That’s my guy,’” Robinson said. “We have a lot of talent coming up through the organization, and it does look like we’re starting over, but there’s a lot of talent coming through this club.”

Robinson talked highly of Victor Scott and Masyn Winn as young leaders on this Cardinals team. He noted this about JJ Wetherholt: “He’s a pure hitter. He’s going to be fun to watch over the next decade."

Robinson's journey

Robinson remembers trying to prove himself to the Cardinals in 1997. His manager, Tony La Russa, told him he had a shot. With the way he was producing at the minor league level after a few seasons in the organization, Robinson says that La Russa told him if that production continued, he’d be helping the MLB team out one day.

But the next year is when Robinson ended up in Tampa Bay.

Returning to La Russa’s squad in 2001, the manager again told him he’d be helping out. But this time, La Russa said it would be later that year. Sure enough, during the Redbirds’ road trip in Tacoma, Washington, there was a call on the phone. His roommate picked up.

“He said Mo (general manager John Mozeliak) was on the phone. I knew that was a good sign,” Robinson said. “Mo says: ‘Hey, man, we’re going to bring you back to St. Louis so you can play with your childhood team. The first phone call I made after that was to my mom.”

Robinson told her, "Mom, I’m coming home."

“What, you quit baseball?” she asked.

“No, I’m coming home to play for the Cardinals,” Robinson told her.

“The St. Louis Cardinals?” she asked, still stunned.

“Yes, I’m going to play for the big league team,” Robinson assured her.

La Russa was the first to give him that extended opportunity at the pro level. He got those three seasons and one with the Padres. Those years taught him something about pro baseball.

“It’s easier to get there than it is to stay. A lot of guys fail, in my opinion, because they’re scared to have success,” Robinson said. “On the downside, the outfield was Albert Pujols, Jim Edmonds and J.D. Drew. If you’re a St. Louis Cardinals fan, like I was, you don’t want to see Kerry Robinson playing over any of those guys. Nor was I as talented as any of those guys. … The blessing was I got to play in the big leagues. The little bit of a curse was I had three — it might be one of the best outfields of all time.”

Bars and restaurants across Ontario will be able to welcome Olympic hockey fans with a breakfast beer or caesar starting at 6 a.m. ET Sunday for the gold medal men’s game.

The Canadian team beat Finland in a nail-biter of a semifinal game Friday, coming back from 2-0 to win 3-2 with just 35 seconds left.

It puts them in the gold medal game 8 a.m. ET Sunday against either the United States or Slovakia.

Premier Doug Ford says the province will be allowing bars and restaurants to sell alcohol starting at 6 a.m. ET.

A spokesperson says the government is authorizing the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario to temporarily extend the hours of liquor sales, as it can do for events of national significance.

Ford’s government had also directed school boards to let students watch Thursday afternoon’s gold medal women’s hockey game, which ended in a 2-1 win for the United States.