Perrotto: What Pirates Seek in Their Next Farm Director

Christmas is one week away, and the Pittsburgh Pirates still don’t have anyone to oversee their farm system.

John Baker is ostensibly handling his former role as director of coach and player development. However, he will have a new job with the Pirates heading into next season as vice president, performance.

That leaves the Pirates looking for Baker’s successor less than two months before the beginning of spring training. General manager Ben Cherington said last week at MLB’s Winter Meetings that he is close to hiring a farm director – sorry I’m using an old-school term here – but did not have a timetable.

Cherington feels the Pirates already have a strong infrastructure for whoever takes over as the farm system leaders. Cherington believes the organization is significantly better overall at player development since Baker replaced Larry Broadway before the 2021 season.

“What’s important is what has evolved since then,” Cherington said. “We’ve gotten a little more mature in some areas. Our pitching group is a little more developed and mature than it would have been four years ago. We’re sort of developing our hitting as far as off-field and on-field. They have been together and had more reps.”

The Pirates have been better at producing homegrown pitchers than hitters during Cherington’s tenure.

Right-handers Paul Skenes and Jared Jones front the starting rotation and were drafted and developed by the Pirates since Cherington’s arrival following 2019, as well as reliever Carmen Mlodzinski. Two righties among Baseball America’s top 100 prospects – Bubba Chandler (No. 21) and Thomas Harrington (No. 88) — are also Cherington draftees.

Position player-wise, second baseball Nick Gonzales is the only projected starter in 2025 drafted during the Cherington era. The only hitter in BA’s top 100 is shortstop (No. 74 Konner Griffin), who was selected in the first round of this year’s draft.

It would seem logical to think the Pirates are looking for a farm director who will emphasize offense. However, that isn’t necessarily the case.

“I don’t think we need someone that can solve everything, someone who checks every single box of the player development in the universe,” Cherington said. “We’re starting from a strong position with the people that we have. We need someone who can lead the group, ultimately wakes up and goes to bed thinking about how we’re going to make our players better.

“Certainly, there’s got to be competency. The competency is important but just as important is the human being that people are going to respond to, and people are going to love.”

According to two outlets that last ranked the major league farm systems in mid-August, the Pirates’ player development is in a down cycle. MLB.com had the Pirates at No. 20 and Baseball America ranked them 27th among the 30 MLB teams.

With miserly Bob Nutting owning the team, the Pirates’ best chance for success is to develop young players who can be productive before becoming expensive. Thus, Cherington needs to hire the right farm director.