The Arizona Diamondbacks are hiring former Pittsburgh Pirates director of pitching development Jeremy Bleich for a role in the front office, a team source confirmed to Arizona Sports on Tuesday.
Bleich will step into assistant general manager role under GM Mike Hazen.
The former pitcher spent the last six seasons with the Pirates, filling roles on the major league staff as an assistant pitching coach and eventually moving into pitching development.
According to a press release from February, Bleich was made in charge of Pittsburgh’s pitching skill development, philosophies, coaching development and innovation.
He pitched in the minor leagues from 2008-19, making two major league appearances and competing at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 for Team Israel.
The Pirates have three pitchers ranked in MLB Pipeline’s top 100 prospects, coming off a year in which the club finished with the seventh-best ERA at 3.76. Three of Pittsburgh’s top four prospects are pitchers, as the organization has had success recently in developing arms beyond superstar Paul Skenes.
The Diamondbacks have not experienced the same fortune. Ryne Nelson, Brandon Pfaadt and Justin Martinez have been recent standouts, but general manager Mike Hazen told AZCentral.com’s Nick Piecoro earlier this season the organization would alter its pitching development strategy.
The Diamondbacks have the fourth-worst ERA in baseball over the past half-decade, and their most consistent starters have been external additions in Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly. The club has spent big dollars on free agent pitchers to lackluster results in that span due to the need to fill the rotation.
Arizona added eight pitching prospects at the trade deadline last July to deepen the farm system.
Bringing in Bleich provides an outside voice to help lead those philosophy changes, and improving the pitching pipeline would be a game-changer.
