The Pittsburgh Pirates named John Baker their director of coaching and player development.
Baker served as the MLB Head Applied Mental Skills Coach this past season, and spent five years in baseball operations with the Chicago Cubs.
“We are excited to add John to our baseball operations leadership team,” Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said. “John’s experience as a player, his training and experience as a mental skills coach for a highly successful franchise, and his continued learning in the areas of skill acquisition and human performance, give him valuable perspective on the entire player improvement and performance process. John will work closely with our minor league staff and players to help lead our player development program.”
The 39-year-old Baker spent spent seven seasons as a catcher in the majors with the Miami Marlins (2008-11), San Diego Padres (2012-13) and Cubs (2014). In 359 career games, he produced a .247 batting average, a .330 OBP, 14 home runs and 120 RBIs.
