The Pittsburgh Pirates are bringing in a familiar face to be a minor league coach in 2020. Victor Black, who taken 49th overall in the 2009 amateur draft, has been hired as an Assistant Pitching Coach. Black debuted in the majors with the Pirates in 2013, before being traded to the New York Mets in the Marlon Byrd deal. He pitched a total of 59 games in the majors over two seasons and played pro ball until 2018.
Black, who said he will be in Bradenton full-time this year, currently works as a personal pitching coach and runs the ARM Doc pitching program. You can check out the Facebook page for his program here. This will be his first coaching position in pro ball.
The Pirates also had an interesting hire, bringing in Brett Evert as an Area Supervisor for Amateur Scouting. He spent the previous 11 years with the Braves as a Northwest/Canada scout and was the signing scout for Mike Soroka, who finished second in the NL Rookie of the Year voting this year. Evert also signed Brandon Drury, who was taken as a 13th round pick out of high school in 2010 and has played the last five seasons in the majors.
