Pittsburgh Pirates Announce Coaching Staff Changes

On Saturday morning the Pittsburgh Pirates announced additional changes to their coaching staff.

A week after letting Rick Sofield as the the outfield/third base coach and re-assigning first base coach Nick Leyva, the Pittsburgh Pirates have finalized the changes to their coaching staff. One of the moves that was announced, however, is one that was already known. And that move is the hiring of their third base coach.

As expected, Joey Cora has been named the team’s new third base coach. Cora will also be the infield coach, replacing Leyva in that role. You can read more about Cora here.

Joining Cora on the staff will be Tom Prince and Kimera Bartee. Prince, a former Pirates’ catcher, will be Clint Hurdle‘s new bench coach in 2017. He will replace Dave Jauss who will remain on the staff as a coach.

In 2015 Prince was the manager for the Double-A Altoona Curve. He has also been a manager for the Pirates Low-A and Rookie League teams. This past season Prince worked as the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Minor League field coordinator. Prince has played a large role in the development of a lot of current Pirate players.

Kimera Bartee will become the Pirates’ new first base coach. Bartee will also be the base running coach. Prior to this he was the Pirates’ Minor League outfield and base running coordinator. Hopefully, Bartee can help fix the base running issues that plagued the Pirates under Rick Sofield’s guidance.

The final coaching change announced by the Pittsburgh Pirates is that coach Brad Fischer will no longer be on Hurdle’s staff. Instead, Fischer has been offered a role in the Pirates’ player development department.

Next: Trade Target: Drew Smyly

As I talked about earlier in the week, I really like the addition of Joey Cora to the Major League staff. I believe that one day soon Cora will be a Major League manager. I also like the addition of Tom Prince. Honestly, I am surprised it took Prince this long to become a coach at the Major League level.