The Pittsburgh Pirates announced on Saturday evening that they have fired third base coach Rick Sofield and reassigned first base coach Nick Leyva to a role as the Senior Advisor of Baseball Operations.
The Pirates have announced the dismissal of coach Rick Sofield, & have reassigned coach Nick Leyva to Senior Advisor, Baseball Operations.
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) October 22, 2016
Sofield was also in charge of the base running and outfield defense this season. He was with the Pirates in 2002 as a Minor League Field Coordinator, then returned in 2012 to coach the West Virginia Power. Sofield spent the 2013-14 seasons as the first base coach for the Pirates, before switching over to third base for the last two seasons.
Leyva spent four years the third base coach for the Pirates before switching spots with Sofield for the last two years, moving over to first base. He was also in charge of the infield defense.
Pirates GM Neal Huntington issued this statement on the moves and coaches involved:
“We have great respect and appreciation for both men. We thank them for their time and effort as part of our Major League team and the Pirates organization. It was a difficult decision, but we felt it was the right time to make this change on our Major League staff,” Huntington said. “We look forward to Nick’s continued impact in his future role with the Pirates. Nick has held nearly every coaching position at the major league level and at the minor league level, including Major League manager, in his extensive career and will be a quality mentor for our minor league managers, coaches and players throughout our system.”