The Pirates Tuesday announced the hiring of John Baker as the organization’s new farm director.
Baker, 39, is a former big league catcher who spent the past five seasons in the Chicago Cubs’ baseball operations department.
Baker, whose official title with the Pirates is director of coaching and player development, takes over for former farm director Larry Broadway, who was reassigned.
Baker spent three years as the Cubs’ mental skills coordinator after working as a baseball ops assistant in 2016. Last season, he served as the Cubs’ MLB head applied mental skills coach.
General Manager Ben Cherington said the club is excited to add Baker to its baseball ops leadership team.