Davenport, Iowa—Dave Heller, CEO of Main Street Baseball, LLC, announced Tuesday the promotion of Assistant General Manager Paul Kleinhans-Schulz to General Manager of the Quad Cities River Bandits, High-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. In this new capacity, Kleinhans-Schulz will oversee the team’s day-to-day operations and maintain the team’s commitment to fun and the Quad Cities community.
“Paul has been an integral part of our great success over the past two years,” said River Bandits owner Dave Heller. “He’s everything it means to be a River Bandit: Paul is smart, focused, hard-working, and dedicated to providing all of our guests with an exceptional game-day experience. He is loved by both the Royals and our guests and does a great job. He’s completely earned this promotion.
”Since being named the River Bandits’ Assistant General Manager of Baseball Operations in 2020, Kleinhans-Schulz helped lead the club through the Covid-19 pandemic to its most profitable year in team history in 2021. That year, the River Bandits earned Ballpark Digest’s Minor League Baseball “Team of the Year” award. In addition, Kleinhans-Schulz contributed to the team’s single-season record for sponsorship sales in 2022, while organizing events including the annual River Bandits Golf Outing, benefiting the Bandit Scholars Program. He has also overseen the installation and operation of the team’s new marketing and sales platforms throughout the ballpark.
Kleinhans-Schulz first joined the River Bandits in 2014 as an account executive before being promoted to Sales Manager later that year. In 2016, he left to become Director of Group Sales for the New Orleans Baby Cakes (AAA, Miami Marlins), eventually rising to Assistant General Manager of Sales.
In 2018, Kleinhans-Schulz rejoined the Main Street Baseball family as Assistant General Manager of the Lowell Spinners (Short-A, Boston Red Sox), prior to accepting a similar position with the Fort Myers Miracle (High-A, Minnesota)in 2019.
Kleinhans-Schulz graduated from Augustana College in 2014 with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration.
ABOUT THE BANDITS: The 2023 season will mark the River Bandits’ third year as the High-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals and 62nd as members of the Midwest League. In 2021, the River Bandits became the first team in Midwest League history to win four championships in ten seasons (2011, 2013, 2015 and 2021). The Bandits anchor the Quad Cities sports market, which The Sports Business Journal named the top minor league sports market in the country in 2015 and second-best minor league market in its 2017 follow-up ranking. In 2015, 2017, and again in 2019, the River Bandits earned Ballpark Digest’s award for “Best Charitable Works” in Minor League Baseball, the only club to win that coveted award three times. For more information, visit www.riverbandits.com or contact Main Street Baseball COO Joe Kubly at (563) 333-2768
