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For the second year in a row, the Mariners are losing a highly regarded minor league pitching coordinator.
Matt Pierpont was a finalist for several big-league pitching jobs over the past few weeks, and he ultimately takes over as the St. Louis Cardinals’ Director of Pitching … https://t.co/RrhWA6xwSd
— Adam Jude (@A_Jude) November 28, 2024
Well good for Matt, he gets to graduate to mlb, it sounds like. Not sure what his title asks of him. Pitching director sounds important. His lack of mlb player experience stood out for me.
What is a Director of Pitching? Is it a ML or MiLB position? Uniformed or another desk sitter? Is it a newly created position for the Cardinals, or is he replacing someone? If its new, where does he slot in? Over who, reporting to who?
I wonder if they are going to increase the head count when it comes to people who get dirt on their shoes or if its mostly more layers of admin bloat.
Anyway, here is bio on the guy per Baseball Reference Bullpen:
Matt Pierpont pitched for the Winthrop University Eagles from 2010-2013 while earning a degree in exercise science. The Colorado Rockies drafted him in the 26th round of the 2013 amateur draft and he played in their minor league system from 2013-2019. Pierpont was a relief pitcher throughout his minor league and never started a game. He appeared in 222 games and produced a 28-15 record with a 2.83 ERA and saved 38 games. After spending three seasons at AA, he finished his career in 2019 at AAA. Like many players who were not top prospects, the cancellation of the 2020 minor league season due to COVID-19 and the MLB decision to eliminate lower levels of the minor leagues led to the effective end of his playing career.
In 2021 Pierpont transitioned to a coaching role in the Seattle Mariners minor league system with the Everett AquaSox. In July he was promoted to interim pitching coach with the Arkansas Travelers while the regular Traveler’s pitching coach, Alon Leichman, was pitching for Israel in the 2020 Olympics. He returned to Everett in 2022 as their pitching coach.
The Kansas City Royals Baseball Academy (also known as the Royals Academy and the GCL Royals Academy) was a part of the player development system of the Kansas City Royals in the early 1970s. The Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. An innovation conceived by Ewing Kauffman, the franchise’s original owner, the goal was to develop quality athletes into major-league-caliber ballplayers for the organization. The only three Academy students who graduated to the majors were Ron Washington, U L Washington and Frank White.[1] The concept was discontinued in May 1974
Bling-This is what the Cardinals are doing only 50 years later. Lets hope they have better success. I remember it clearly.
I went two summers, to the instructional camps in Sarasota, while the KC big leaguers were in season. They gave the campers the big league experience, on big league fields, and ex-players were the instructors. Thanks for the flashback KCB.
Thanks guys, it calls back memories of visiting ST in St. Pete with my dad and grandpa when I was a kid.
Really cool JJ you got to see it in person.
Bling-I used to take my vacation and go to ST in St Petes Beach. Spent countless afternoons at Al Lang Field. That was well before the owners ruined it and exploited the experience by charging ML prices.I made it to St. Petersburg and Al Lang Field for one ST and one game in the early 1990’s, and I’ll never forget it. Easily the coolest ballpark that ever existed. Gussie Busch fought for a long time to keep it. Changing times are what forced the organization to give it up.
I can think of three reasons to anoint a ‘Director of Pitching’.
1. It authorizes one guy to call a meeting of pitching coaches where they are all expected to show up.
2. The front office has one guy to call and inquire about a prospect. If he doesn’t happen to have the information they are asking for, then he can go and find out that information and call them back.
3. They can pay him extra money to lure him away from the Mariners without pissing off the other pitching coaches who have been with the Cardinals organization longer. Evidently, they see something they really like about this guy.I loved St. Pete and Al Lang, an old park with an extensive history, and was sad when the Cardinals left. However, the park is downtown, miles away from the training facilities. The Cardinals needed an upgrade and got it across the state in Jupiter.
What is a Director of Pitching? Is it a ML or MiLB position? Uniformed or another desk sitter? Is it a newly created position for the Cardinals, or is he replacing someone? If its new, where does he slot in? Over who, reporting to who?
Good questions bling. I haven’t seen much more info on this yet. Maybe more will come out after the holiday weekend.
I am pretty sure it is a non-uniformed position and probably a new position position because if we currently have one I have never heard of him. I don’t know if this new guy will report directly to Mo, Bloom, Cerfolio, or the yet to be named farm director.
Brian has some good insights, but as he said, there is a lot yet to be known. I just know how this sort of thing tends to go in an industrial setting. When it is said and done there is a massive amount of admin bloat and not much help actually accomplishing anything on the production floor. The added layers mean even more of the management team is more remote from the contact point than before. Initiatives become scattered, accountability becomes obsured, and all the supposedly bright new ideas get lost and trampled and prioritized to the sideline in a huge bureaucratic tangle.
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