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Pirates Hire Don Kelly as New Bench Coach

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According to multiple sources, first reported by Colin Dunlap, the Pittsburgh Pirates are bringing in Don Kelly as their bench coach, replacing Tom Prince. Kelly was the first base coach for the Houston Astros in 2019. Jon Heyman confirmed the news.

Kelly was a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates back in 2007 as a player. He was born in Mount Lebanon and attended Point Park University in Pittsburgh. He’s the brother-in-law of Neil Walker. Kelly played nine seasons in the majors, mostly with the Detroit Tigers. He finished up his playing days in 2016 with the Miami Marlins.

Since retiring as a player, he was a scout for the Detroit Tigers for two years, before moving to the Astros last November.

UPDATE: Pirates make the move official

They also announce that third base coach Joey Cora, hitting coach Rick Eckstein and assistant pitching coach Justin Meccage will all return for 2020.

Words from Kelly

John Dreker
John Dreker
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball. When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.

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