Pirates hire bench coach, 3rd-base coach to Don Kelly’s staff
The Pittsburgh Pirates hired Kristopher Negron as bench coach and Tony Beasley as third-base coach, according to a league source, rounding out the two key positions remaining on Don Kelly’s staff.
Negron, 39, comes to the Pirates from the Seattle Mariners, where he was third-base coach last season after three years as first-base coach.
After playing 170 games as a utility player over six seasons for four teams in the major leagues, Negron was hired by Seattle as an assistant to the director of player development in 2019, then served as manager at Triple-A Tacoma in 2021 before joining the major-league coaching staff.
Negron will replace Kelly, who served as Pirates bench coach for five-plus seasons before being elevated to manager upon Derek Shelton’s firing in May. Kelly didn’t have a bench coach, as Gene Lamont came out of retirement to serve as an adviser and Mike Rabelo took on some of the game-planning duties.
Beasley, 58, replaces Rabelo, who wasn’t retained and has joined Shelton’s staff with the Minnesota Twins. Beasley spent 18 years in the Pirates organization, including as third-base coach under John Russell from 2008-10.
Beasley has coached for the Texas Rangers since 2015, serving as first- and third-base coach and a 48-game stint as interim manager in 2022.
The Pirates previously hired Bill Murphy as pitching coach to replace Oscar Marin.
Kevin Gorman is a TribLive reporter covering the Pirates. A Baldwin native and Penn State graduate, he joined the Trib in 1999 and has covered high school sports, Pitt football and basketball and was a sports columnist for 10 years. He can be reached at kgorman@triblive.com.
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