Pirates finally pivot player development efforts with yet another personnel change

Last offseason, it was reported by John Perrotto that Bob Nutting increased the baseball operations budget by $20 million, and Ben Cherington spent the majority of that towards upgrading the research and development department. For an organization that relies on internal development over external additions, they absolutely need to be successful in that field and, so far, the Cherington regime hasn't succeeded.

One of the main guys in charge of the Pirates' player development since 2020 has been John Baker. Prior to the 2025 season, his position shifted to the club's performance team. That shift in his role was due to the poor results that came from his approach.

Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette wrote, "After joining the Pirates, Baker talked a lot about teaching the game differently to Pirates prospects, as well as advancing their mental skills approach. Their new methodology was met with mixed results, leading to speculation after the 2024 season that Baker would be out as farm director."

A year after getting a new role in the organization, the two parties have mutually decided to part ways, according to Mackey. The Pirates are desperately searching for a fix in their player development field, and moving on from Baker is part of that fresh start.

Pirates mutually move on from John Baker in attempt to solve player development woes.

After the team shifted Baker's role, Michael Chernow was placed into his original spot as director of player development. It's only been a year since he took over there, so there isn't much to take away from his efforts thus far.

The Pirates desperately need an answer in the development department. There's no way to sugarcoat that, either. While they have been able to develop pitching, their hitting has been completely unsuccessful. The only successful hitting prospect to make an impact in the major leagues has been Nick Gonzales, and he was below average in 2025.

Since Chernow is now the director there, it's not like Pittsburgh can snag someone to replace Baker right now. Now, since they spent a large amount last offseason on the research and development field, maybe deepening that budget is still in the picture. We can only hope that's the case. Along with buiding their development arm, they still need to find a director of amateur scouting after losing Justin Horowitz to the Nationals. There are plenty of staff moves for Pittsburgh to still make this offseason.