The Pirates announced their player development staff Wednesday, which includes nine additions, most of whom will have a quantitative focus.
There can be additional hires and new assignments in the future still. That applies to people like Omar Moreno, who will be a part of spring training before the new front office determines where he will be best suited, and Jeff Banister, who the team allowed to interview with the Astros for their managerial opening in January. Since Banister did not get the Astros job, he and the Pirates are now working through the process of what his 2020 status is.
Five of the new hires have an analytics background. Justin Newman is now the senior quantitative analyst of amateur scouting, Sean Ahmed is coming from the Cubs to be a senior quantitative analyst of baseball informatics and Nick Siefken is coming from the Rays to be a software developer for baseball informatics. Grant Jones and Matt Kane are being promoted to full-time after interning with the Pirates. Jones will focus in international scouting, Kane in player development.
Outside of the analytics realm, Oz Ocampo is a special assistant of player personnel, Michael Landestoy is an assistant of pro scouting, Austin Kirksey is a fellow of amateur scouting and Zach Aldrich is a fellow of baseball operations.
As previously reported, Larry Broadway is returning as the minor league director, and his direct staff is returning. Brian Selma is still the assistant director, TJ Large the coordinator of minor-league pitching operations, Shawn Johnston the coordinator of minor-league hitting and Michael Chernow the administrator of the minor-leagues, though he was previously referred to as the administrator of player development.
Of the notable reassignments, Brad Fischer is also now the catching coordinator while retaining his senior field coordinator title. Kevin Young and Jamey Carroll are transitioning from special assistants of baseball operations to offensive and defensive coordinator, respectively. Young will also be a color commentator for some Pirates broadcasts this year, partially filling in Steve Blass' spot in the broadcast booth.
The team also finalized the coaching staffs of their short-season minor league teams in Morgantown, Bristol, Bradenton and the Dominican Republic. Those staffs are listed below, and the previously announced coaching hires and assignments can be found here.
West Virginia (Short-A)
Manager: Jonathan Johnston
Hitting coach: Jim Jorner
Pitching coach: Bryan Hickerson
Coach: Sean West
Athletic Trainer: Victor Silva
Strength and conditioning: Mark Dixon
Bristol (Advanced Rookie)
Manager: Stephen Morales
Hitting coach: Ty Wright
Pitching coach: Fernando Nieve
Coach: Dee Brown
Athletic Trainer: Casey Lee
Strength and conditioning: Brendan Fitzgerald
GCL Pirates (Rookie)
Manager: Mendy Lopez
Hitting coach: Ruben Gotay
Pitching coach: Yorman Bazardo
Coaches: Victor Black/Gustavo Omana
Athletic Trainer: Lee Slagle
Strength and conditioning: Nick Pressley
DSL Pirates 1 (Rookie)
Manager: Jose Mendez
Hitting coach: Luis Borges
Pitching coach: Renny Durate
Coach: Gavi Nivar/Jose Duran
Athletic Trainer: Alex Mena
Strength and conditioning: Luis Perera
DSL Pirates 2 (Rookie)
Manager: Jose Mosquera
Hitting coach: Julio Bruno
Pitching coach: David Perez
Coach: Sammy Gonzalez
Strength and conditioning: Mark Dixon
