Arizona Diamondbacks announce changes to baseball operations staff
Dec 16, 2021, 6:44 PM | Updated: 8:00 pm
Manager Torey Lovullo #17 of the Arizona Diamondbacks signals from the dugout during the second inning of the MLB game against the San Francisco Giants at Chase Field on July 01, 2021 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Ralph Freso/Getty Images)
(Photo by Ralph Freso/Getty Images)
The Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday announced promotions, role changes and new hires for nearly 30 people on the baseball operations staff.
Most notably, Jason McLeod was added as special assistant to D-backs executive vice president and general manager Mike Hazen.
The two had previously worked together alongside Amiel Sawdaye — current Diamondbacks senior vice president & assistant GM — in the Boston Red Sox’ baseball operations department from 2003-09.
McLeod was also the club’s director of amateur scouting for five years.
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Over the course of his career, McLeod oversaw numerous MLB drafts that saw the selections of All-Stars Dustin Pedroia (2004), Jacoby Ellsbury (2005), Anthony Rizzo (2007), Kris Bryant (2013) and Kyle Schwarber (2014).
McLeod has 26 years of baseball operations experience and coaching, including spending the last decade with the Chicago Cubs.
In that time he served as the senior vice president of scouting and player development (2011-19), as well as of player personnel (2020-21).
Some names that came through the Cubs’ system in his tenure as the head of player development feature the likes of Javier Baez, Willson Contreras, Eloy Jiménez, Jorge Soler and Gleyber Torres.
McLeod is no stranger to the NL West division either, having served as the San Diego Padres’ assistant GM to Jed Hoyer from 2010-11.
He also held various positions with the Padres from 1994-2003 under the direction of Kevin Towers, who was the D-backs GM from 2010-14.
McLeod even played high school baseball with current Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts at Rancho Buena Vista High School in Vista, Calif.
The remaining 16 promotions, six role changes and six new hires are listed below:
Promotions:
– Deric Ladnier is a special assistant to the GM (was previously director or scouting).
– Max Esposito is a Major League physical therapist (was previously Minor League medical coordinator).
– Max Glick is now director of baseball research and development (was previously analyst of research and development).
– John Krazit is now director of baseball systems (was previously manager of baseball systems).
– Kristyn Pierce is now director of baseball administration (was previously assistant director of amateur scouting and baseball administration).
– Ian Rebhan is now director of amateur scouting (was previously assistant director of amateur scouting).
– Michelle Riccardi is now director of the nutrition, sports medicine and performance team (was previously team performance dietician).
– Cory Hahn is now assistant director of player personnel (was previously coordinator of professional scouting).
– Kerry Jenkins is now assistant director of amateur scouting (was previously amateur scout).
– Max Phillips is now assistant director of baseball operations (was previously coordinator of baseball operations).
– Mariana Patraca Dibildox is now manager of international operations and scouting (was previously assistant of Latin American baseball operations).
– Cody Callahan is now senior analyst of baseball research and development (was previously analyst of research and development).
– Patrick Sellas is now senior analyst of sports medicine and performance (was previously analyst of sports medicine and performance).
– Thomas Johnson is now senior baseball systems developer (was previously baseball systems developer).
– Carl Gonzalez is now analyst of baseball research and development (was previously diversity pipeline fellow).
– Aaron Thorn is now a professional scout (was previously developmental professional scout).
Role changes:
– Chloe Medina is an amateur scouting and Latin American assimilation assistant after working as an educational and cultural development assistant.
– Connor Shannon is a player personnel analyst after serving as a baseball operations assistant.
– Chris Slivka is a player personnel analyst after serving as a professional scout.
– Mack Hayashi is a professional/international scout after serving as director of Pacific Rim professional operations.
– Alex Lorenzo is a professional scout after working as an international scouting assistant.
– Limberth Marin is a scout in Venezuela after serving as a scout in Mexico.
New hires:
– Creagor Elsom was hired as a baseball systems developer.
– Jake Greenberg was hired as a player personnel analyst.
– Matt Wales was hired as a junior baseball systems developer.
– Stephen Baker was hired as an area scout.
– Luis “Polo” Peña was hired as a scout in Mexico.
