The Pittsburgh Pirates announced their 2018 minor league coaching staffs, which have a few major changes from last year. Indianapolis manager Andy Barkett and Altoona hitting coach Kevin Riggs both left for jobs with other organizations, which led to some shuffling among the returning coaches.
Indianapolis will be managed by Brian Esposito, who has split the last four seasons between West Virginia and Morgantown/Jamestown. The new hitting coach is Ryan Long, who was with West Virginia last year. Stan Kyles returns as the pitching coach.
Altoona keeps manager Michael Ryan and pitching coach Brian Hickerson. Riggs has been replaced by Keoni De Renne, who moves up from Bradenton.
Bradenton now has Butch Wynegar as the hitting coach. He was with Indianapolis prior to this season. Gera Alvarez returns as manager and Matt Ford remains as the pitching coach.
West Virginia keeps Wyatt Toregas as the manager, while Joel Hanrahan is their new pitching coach. He was with Bristol last year, his first as a coach. Chris Petersen is the hitting coach and new to the system He played briefly in the majors in 1999 with the Colorado Rockies and spent part of the 2001 season in the minors for the Pirates.
Morgantown returns Jonathan Prieto as the hitting coach and Ton Filer as the pitching coach. The manager will be Kieran Mattison, who has coached throughout the system for the last three years, including managing in the DSL last year and serving as the GCL hitting coach in 2016.
Bristol’s manager will be Miguel Perez for a second season. Austin McClune will be the hitting coach and Joey Sever joins the system as the pitching coach. McClune was the GCL hitting coach in 2017 and Bristol hitting coach in 2016. Between college and pros, Sever has been coaching since 1990. He spent the last two years with the Indians and the two prior years with the Rangers.
Dave Turgeon will be the GCL manager after taking over the job late last year. Andy Benes goes from West Virginia to the GCL as the pitching coach. Kory DeHaan, who has moved all around the system over the years, takes over as the hitting coach.
The DSL staff has Gavi Nivar, a former player who was a DSL coach last year, moving into the managerial role. Longtime pitching coach Dan Urbina returns. Danilo Sanchez will be a coach and Luis Natera is new to the system and the new hitting coach. I’ll have to check on him, it’s either the coach for the Mets since the mid-90s in numerous roles throughout their system, or his son, who played for the Mets a few years back.