Pittsburgh Pirates general manager Ben Cherington formally announced Wednesday the hiring of several baseball operations directors and staff promotions as part of a promised reorganization of the front office.
Mike Voltmer joins the Pirates as the new vice president of pro evaluation and strategy after eight years with the reigning World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers, where he was director of baseball information and strategy the past three years.
Trey Rose was promoted to director of baseball operations, as Will Lawton was reassigned to special assistant of player evaluation after serving as pro scouting director the past four years. Rose joined the Pirates in 2017 as a baseball operations fellow.
Michael Chernow was promoted to director of coaching and player development, taking over the farm system for John Baker, who was promoted to vice president of performance. Chernow is in his ninth year in the Pirates organization.
Max Kwan returns to the Pirates as vice president of international scouting, replacing Junior Vizcaino. Kwan played an instrumental role in signing infielders Ji Hwan Bae and Tsung-Che Cheng and pitcher Jun-Seok Shim from South Korea and pitchers David Matoma from Uganda, Alessandro Ercolani from San Marino and Brandan Bidois from Australia. Kwan spent last year working with the Boras Corporation.
Jeremy Bleich was promoted to director of pitching development, where he will work closely with pitching leadership at all levels to “define vision and primary philosophies, refine skill development processes, lead coach development, and drive continuous innovation.” After four years on the Pirates’ major league coaching staff, Bleich spent last season as the organization’s assistant director of pitching.
Kevin Tenenbaum joins the club as vice president of baseball research and development after spending seven years with the Cleveland Guardians. He replaces Sean Ahmed.
The Pirates also promoted Dr. Hector Morales to senior director of international development and minor league applied mental performance. Todd Tomczyk was promoted to senior director of sports medicine. Tomczyk spent six years as the Pirates’ head athletic trainer before being promoted to director of sports medicine in 2018.
