The Pirates have their new farm director, and they went to a division rival get their guy.
The club announced Tuesday that they have hired former player and Cubs mental skills coordinator John Baker as their new director of coaching and player development.
Baker, 39, has spent the last five seasons in the Cubs' baseball operations department. He worked as an assistant in 2016 before being promoted to a mental skills coordinator for the next three years.
“We are excited to add John to our baseball operations leadership team,” Ben Cherington said in a statement. “John’s experience as a player, his training and experience as a mental skills coach for a highly successful franchise, and his continued learning in the areas of skill acquisition and human performance, give him valuable perspective on the entire player improvement and performance process. John will work closely with our minor league staff and players to help lead our player development program.”
The Cubs greatly valued mental skills and well-being during this pandemic season, so they made a new position for Baker -- MLB head applied mental skills coach -- so he could have Tier 1 access and be around the players.
“I think he’s handling it great,” Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer said about Baker's expanded role in 2020. “I think he deserves credit, and so do the players for being there for each other and be willing to talk about the challenges we all face and anxieties we all face.”
With most prospects being away from in-person coaching for almost the entire year and not being able to play in games, the Pirates emphasized mental skills coaching in 2020, including having players do weekly group calls with coaches who specialize in that area. Hiring Baker will certainly add to a part of player development that the Pirates want to get better at.
Baker was profiled in the 2018 book The MVP Machine, written by Ben Lindbergh and Travis Sawchik. In it, Baker said the goal is for players to dismiss distractions so they can "play thought-free and allow all of the years of practice and training that is based on all of these scientific measures now to just express itself."
As a player, Baker appeared in 359 games over seven seasons with the Marlins, Padres and Cubs, almost exclusively as a catcher. He did pitch in the 16th inning of a 2014 marathon between the Cubs and Rockies, tossing a 1-2-3 inning in the 16th and then driving home the winning run.
Baker's hire certainly keeps in line with other additions Cherington has made to the front office in his time with the Pirates, prioritizing expertise and a promising future over experience and age. Assistant general manager Steve Sanders, 32, and special assistant of player personnel Oz Ocampo, 37, were both hired last year.
After keeping the front office mostly intact after a complete overhaul in leadership last offseason, the Pirates decided to shake up their player development department. The two most important hires will be a new farm director and pitching coordinator.
Former farm director Larry Broadway is still with the organization, though he does not have a new role yet. The Pirates are still searching for a pitching coordinator.