The Pittsburgh Pirates today announced the minor league staff for the 2012 season. The announcement was made by Pirates Director of Minor League Operations, Larry Broadway. Here are the coaching assignments for each team.
INDIANAPOLIS (AAA)
Manager: Dean Treanor
Coach: Jeff Branson
Pitching Coach: Tom Filer
Athletic Trainer: Bryan Housand
The Indianapolis staff will stay the same as the 2011 staff.
ALTOONA (AA)
Manager: P.J. Forbes
Coach: Ryan Long
Pitching Coach: Jeff Johnson
Athletic Trainer: Mike Zalno
Jeff Johnson takes over as the pitching coach, replacing Wally Whitehurst. Johnson was previously the pitching coach in West Virginia. Ryan Long moves up from Bradenton to take over as the batting coach.
BRADENTON (A)
Manager: Carlos Garcia
Coach: Kory DeHaan
Pitching Coach: Mike Steele
Athletic Trainer: Dru Scott
Kory DeHaan, a 7th round pick by the Pirates in 1997, takes over as the hitting coach after serving as a hitting coach in San Diego’s minor league system from 2009-2011.
WEST VIRGINIA (A)
Manager: Rick Sofield
Coach: Edgar Varela
Pitching Coach: Willie Glen
Athletic Trainer: Phillip Mastro
Rick Sofield will take over managerial duties at Class-A West Virginia after coaching the University of South Carolina Beaufort the previous four years. Sofield played three seasons (1979-81) in the Majors with the Minnesota Twins and will return to the Pirates for a second stint after serving as the organization’s Minor League Field Coordinator in 2002. It will also be Sofield’s first managerial assignment since 2003 with Triple-A Colorado Springs.
Willie Glen was a pitching coach in the Marlins’ system last year.
STATE COLLEGE (A)
Manager: Dave Turgeon
Coach: Dave Howard
Pitching Coach: Justin Meccage
Athletic Trainer: Justin Ahrens
Dave Turgeon will manage State College in 2012 after serving as West Virginia’s Pitching Coach last season. Prior to last season, Turgeon was the associate head coach and pitching coach at Virginia Tech from 2007-10.
GCL PIRATES (Rookie)
Manager: Tom Prince
Coach: Mike Lum
Pitching Coach: Bobby St. Pierre
Athletic Trainer: Jose Ministral
Bobby St. Pierre coached in the Royals system from 2008-2011.
DOMINICAN (Rookie)
Manager: Larry Sutton
Hitting Coach: Jonathan Prieto
Pitching Coach: Dan Urbina
Coach: Ramon Zapata
Athletic Trainer: Keito Homma
Dominican (Rookie)
Manager: Gera Alvarez
Hitting Coach: Johe Acosta
Pitching Coach: Henry Corniel
Coach: Cecilio Beltre
Athletic Trainer: Sergio Marte
Larry Sutton will manage one of the organization’s two entries in the Dominican Summer League after joining the organization as the Dominican Field Coordinator. Sutton spent the previous four seasons as Kansas City’s Hitting Coach in the Dominican Summer League. Sutton played parts of seven seasons in the big leagues with Kansas City (1997-99), St. Louis (2000-01), Oakland (2002) and Florida (2004).
Gera Alvarez will manage Pittsburgh’s other entry in the Dominican Summer League after spending last year as a player/coach for Single-A West Virginia. Alvarez played in the Orioles organization from 2002-07 after being selected by Baltimore in the 16th round of the 2002 First-Year Player Draft.
Other Assignments
Tyler Buckminster, Rafael Sepulveda, Chad Uihlein, Adam Wagner and Ricky White will be strength and conditioning coaches (affiliate assignments to be determined).
The Pirates also announced the coordinator staff for the 2012 season. In addition to Tom Prince and Larry Sutton, this group includes the following:
Brad Fischer has had his responsibilities expanded as the Field Coordinator. Scott Mitchell has been promoted to Pitching Coordinator after serving as the Assistant Pitching Coordinator last year. Assisting him will be Miguel Bonilla, who will assume supervision of the Rehab and Dominican pitching programs. Tyson Holt has joined the organization as the Mental Conditioning Coordinator. He replaces Bernie Holliday, who was promoted to Director of Mental Conditioning. Holt most recently worked in the Comprehensive Soldier Fitness-Performance and Resilience Enhancement program for the Army.
Jeff Livesey (Hitting Coordinator), Kimera Bartee (Outfield/Baserunning Coordinator), and Gary Green (Infield Coordinator) return in their same roles.
Frank Kremblas (Special Assistant to Minor League Operations), Woody Huyke (Advisor to Minor League Operations), and Pablo Cruz (Advisor to Latin American Operations) will add experience and perspective throughout the development system.
On the Athletic Performance side, Mike Winkler and Jeremiah Randall have joined the organization from the Los Angeles Dodgers as the Strength and Conditioning Coordinator and Rehab Coordinator respectively. Joe Hughes will be responsible for overseeing the physical development of the organization’s entry level players as the Athletic Development Coordinator. Kiyoshi Momose (Latin American Strength and Conditioning Coordinator and Assistant Major League Strength and Conditioning Coach) and Carl Randolph (Athletic Training Coordinator) return in their same roles.
In addition to the field staff assignments above, Diane Depasquale has been promoted from Minor League Administrator to Coordinator of Minor League Operations. The 2012 season will be DePasquale’s 36th in the Pirates organization.
Tim started Pirates Prospects in 2009 from his home in Virginia, which was 40 minutes from where Pedro Alvarez made his pro debut in Lynchburg. That year, the Lynchburg Hillcats won the Carolina League championship, and Pirates Prospects was born from Tim's reporting along the way. The site has grown over the years to include many more writers, and Tim has gone on to become a credentialed MLB reporter, producing Pirates Prospects each year, and will publish his 11th Prospect Guide this offseason. He has also served as the Pittsburgh Pirates correspondent for Baseball America since 2019. Behind the scenes, Tim is an avid music lover, and most of the money he gets paid to run this site goes to vinyl records.
Tim:
If you agree, I think an informative article from you might be a description of what each of the assignments mentioned entail. For example, what exactly will Brad Fischer’s responsibilities involve as the Field Coordinator?
Doc
I lived in Bluffton, SC (where South Carolina Beaufort is located) for two years, right around when USCB started its baseball program. Sofield did a great job getting that off the ground and turning it into a winner quickly. Solid professional and seemed like a pretty decent coach.
He’ll be good to have working on the younger players in West Virginia.