Pittsburgh Pirates manager Don Kelly learned weeks before the start of spring training there would be a change to his coaching staff, which made for a difficult decision.

The Pirates promoted Cibney Bello to the major-league staff as the assistant pitching coach to replace Thomas Whitsett, who resigned for personal reasons. Whitsett, 37, who was hired by the Pirates in December, joined new pitching coach Bill Murphy from the Houston Astros. Whitsett was pitching coach at Triple-A Sugar Land last season after serving as minor-league pitching coordinator in 2023.

Murphy and Whitsett replaced Oscar Marin and Brent Strom.

The 43-year-old Bello, a native of Venezuela, shared pitching coach duties with Drew Benes at Triple-A Indianapolis the past two seasons and also worked at their Dominican Republic academy in the offseason.

“A lot of energy and positivity. He’s done a lot for us in Triple-A and down in the D.R.,” Kelly said Friday afternoon at Pirate City. “I’m really excited to add him as the assistant pitching coach.”

As a right-handed pitcher, Bello signed with Seattle in 2000 and had a 21-26 career record with a 5.18 ERA in eight minor-league seasons, rising to High-A in 2006-07. He also played in the independent Can-Am and Golden Baseball Leagues from 2008-10. Prior to joining the Pirates with Indianapolis, Bello spent eight seasons in the Minnesota Twins organization, including three years as pitching coach with Triple-A St. Paul. Bello began his coaching career in 2011 with the Seattle Mariners in the Arizona League and moved up to Single-A Clinton from 2014-15 before leaving for the Twins.

Kelly said the Pirates also considered Benes, pitching performance assistant director Josh Hopper, pitching development special advisors Vic Black and Dewey Robinson and pitching complex coordinator Amaury Telemaco for the role.

“The internal candidates in our pitching department (are) really strong with great human beings, with great content and technical skills, to be able to fill that. It was a hard decision to make,” Kelly said. “I’m excited about Cibney and also feel really good in the depth of men we have in our pitching department. … It’s a strong group of men that are leading our pitching. It was a tough decision to make. I’m excited about adding Cibney’s positivity and the way he goes about it every day and the relationships he had with our guys.”

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