The Pittsburgh Pirates announced their 2017 minor league coaching staffs on Friday afternoon. They had two managers to replace, with Dean Treanor (Indianapolis) being added to the Miami Marlins Major League staff, and Joey Cora (Altoona) being named the third base coach for the Pirates.
Indianapolis will be led by Andy Barkett, a former player for the Pirates, who served as the minor league hitting coordinator in 2016. He has eight years of managerial experience in the minors. Stan Kyles returns as the pitching coach, while Butch Wynegar returns as the hitting coach.
Altoona’s new manager will be Michael Ryan, who managed for Bradenton the last two seasons. Kevin Riggs returns for a third season as the hitting coach and Bryan Hickerson has been added as the pitching coach. Hickerson is new to the organization. He spent five seasons in the majors.
Bradenton will have Gera Alvarez as the manager. He has been the coordinator for the Dominican academy the last three years and also managed in the DSL for three seasons. Keoni De Renne returns as the hitting coach and new pitching coach Matt Ford moves up from West Virginia.
West Virginia and Morgantown swapped managers, with Brian Esposito going to Morgantown and Wyatt Toregas moving up to West Virginia. Esposito will also be the minor league catching coordinator. Ryan Long returns for a second season as the hitting coach for the Power, while their pitching coach has yet to be named. The Black Bears will have Jonathan Prieto return as the hitting coach and Tom Filer moves up from Bristol to be the pitching coach.
Bristol has Kory DeHaan as the manager for a second season and both his hitting coach and pitching coach will be announced later.
The GCL Pirates will be led by Bob Herold, who has 527 wins as a college coach at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. He also put in five seasons of managing in the minors for the Royals. Austin McClune goes from Bristol’s hitting coach to the GCL this year and Elvin Nina returns for a third season as the pitching coach.
The DSL team has mostly new faces, with only pitching coach Dan Urbina and coach Cecilio Beltre returning. Kieran Mattison will be the manager after serving as the GCL hitting coach last year. Bernie Castro joins the organization as a hitting coach and Gavi Nivar will also help out with the coaching. Nivar spent four seasons in the minors for the Pirates and has been a player/coach the last four years.
Altoona pitching coach Justin Meccage has been promoted to the Minor League Pitching Coordinator. Scott Mitchell is now the Senior Pitching Coordinator.
