The Pittsburgh Pirates have just added three new front office members according to their front office page, naming Hadi Raad as a Pro Evaluation Team Leader, Tim Smith as a Pro Scout and John Koronka as an Area Supervisor. Pirates Prospects was able to confirm all of these hires.
Raad was the Director of Pro Scouting for the Miami Marlins for the last three years, getting that job in November of 2019. Before that, he worked six years for the New York Yankees in four different positions, including two years as their Director of Minor League Operations, and 16 months as a pro scout. He worked for the Texas Rangers for 14 months in 2013-14, after he began his career with the Yankees in 2012. Before joining the pro ranks, he attended Wheaton College.
The Pirates also have Larry Broadway and Sean McNally working as Pro Evaluation Team Leaders.
John Koronka pitched four years in the majors with the Chicago Cubs (2005), Texas Rangers (2006-07) and Florida Marlins (2009). His pro career lasted from 1998 through early 2011. He became a regional scout in Florida for the Cubs shortly after his pro career ended, holding that job from 2011 through 2020. He took a college coaching job in March of 2021 at Embry-Riddle, before joining the Pirates.
Tim Smith was with the Detroit Tigers in 2022, where he served as their coordinator of performance science.
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball.
When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.
Question to all …. Were this three hired away from their previous jobs, or had they been fired/released? It would be nice to know if these guys were still wanted in their previous organizations. Hate to think we are making front office additions from the waiver wire.
Raad was let go in November, but don’t overlook the fact that he has a lot of experience at higher jobs in the system. He is a bigger name in the industry, the Marlins got rid of quite a few people. No offense to the other two, but this article only gets written with him included.
Koronka was a college coach after working with the Cubs, so he’s just getting back into the ranks. He was let go during the shutdown when almost every team cut back on operations costs and scouts took the brunt of it. I believe Smith was still with Detroit, but his movement was a completely different job from his previous one. Could have just been a personal decision to switch jobs and go where it was available.
Thank you …
Lets hope they are an improvement. No more Sammy Kahlifa’s with their number one pick.
I think Larry Broadway is not long for the pirates. Why don’t they hire a new”waiver wire guy”
I have no idea what they think about him, but he was reported as being fired three years ago and he never left, just took a different job in the system. So I don’t think being part of the previous regime has hurt him like it did many others. They still have a lot of leftovers from NH times.
Maybe he knows where the bodies are buried.
What exactly are the job responsibilities of “Coordinator of Performance Science?”
I miss baseball from the days when Owners would spend money on baseball players instead of hiring someone to be the Coordinator of Performance Science.
#NerdsKilledBaseball
I like these 3 hires. Any investment in Scouting is a great investment. Maybe Dreker could advise if they are replacing others who were let go? Or are these add-ons to staff? To answer your question about Tim Smith…..think Jonah Hill in Money Ball! It’s a good hire.
I didn’t hear of anyone being let go and didn’t see any names missing, but that was just going off of memory.
As for Smith, his common name made it hard to find info on him, but there were a few photos available from Spring Training 2022 and he was behind the pitcher watching along with other coaches each time.
Raad is obviously the big name here. He had one of the better jobs in the system for the last three years, working his way up to that point. Koronka is the name because he played in the majors, plus he had ten years scouting experience already
That’s not a job title the Pirates have in their system, but I’m sure someone in their system does the same thing. I’d say it’s exactly what you think it is by that hashtag
who is the pirates equity officer?