MIAMI – The Miami Marlins today announced the following promotions in Baseball Operations:
DJ Svihlik – Senior Director, Amateur Scouting
Adrian Lorenzo – Senior Director, International Operations
Geoff DeGroot – Director, Player Development
Hector Crespo – Director, Minor League Operations
Adrian Puig – International Crosschecker
Joseph Lisewski – Special Assignment Scout
Danny Henriquez – Assistant Director, Minor League Operations
David Hernandez Beayne – Manager, International Scouting
Pamela Mejia De Rodriguez – Manager, Education Services
Colleen Mitchell – Manager, Player Care and Service
Neil Gahart – Coordinator, Major League Analytics
Robert Knopf – Senior Analyst
Timothy Pugh – Senior Analyst
Svihlik begins his fifth season with the Marlins in 2022. He joined the organization in November 2017 in the role of Advisor in the Baseball Operations department before being named the Director of Amateur Scouting in June of 2018. Each of the Marlins’ last three draft classes has been universally lauded and helped the organization’s overall system ascend to a top-5 ranking.
Svihlik began his professional baseball career with the New York Yankees, spending 14 years in the Yankees’ organization – starting as an Area Scout covering the south region before being promoted to National Crosschecker in 2012. When he departed in 2016, he had helped evaluate amateur talent that resulted in the Yankees’ farm system being ranked second by Baseball America at the time. Following his tenure with the Yankees, he spent one year at Vanderbilt University as the Commodores’ hitting coach and recruiting coordinator.
Lorenzo enters his fourth season with the Marlins. He served as Director of Baseball Operations in 2021 having been promoted from Special Assistant, Baseball Operations and Scouting where he oversaw various aspects of the Professional Scouting and International Scouting Departments.
Lorenzo began his professional career as an intern in the Player Development department with the Boston Red Sox in 2013, spending six years with the Red Sox organization before joining the Marlins. He joined Boston’s Major League staff in 2015 as the club’s replay review operator and Spanish-Language Translator in 2015. In 2016, he was named Coordinator of International Scouting before ascending to the Red Sox’ Assistant Director for International Scouting.
DeGroot begins his fifth season with the Marlins organization – all in the Player Development and Scouting Department. In his new role, DeGroot will oversee and direct the development of all of the Marlins’ Minor League players throughout the system from the Dominican Republic Academy through Triple-A. This includes individual programming for baseball objectives as well as personal development initiatives both on the field and outside the lines for each player, along with directing our minor league coordinators and coaches who all play an important role in the player development process.
Signed by the Yankees as a non-drafted free agent in 2015, DeGroot played Minor League baseball for one season before transitioning to the front office with the Yankees and working as an assistant in the Player Development department.
Crespo enters his seventh season with the Marlins, having begun his career with Miami as an intern with Player Development and Baseball Operations in 2016. Crespo has spent the past six years in the Player Development department, assisting in the development of the Marlins’ top ranked Minor League system. He was selected in the 34th round of the 2013 MLB Draft by the New York Yankees out of Appalachian State. He played one Minor League season and reached Triple-A.
Puig begins his ninth season with the Marlins organization, joining in 2014 as an intern in Player Development and then spending the following seven years in the Scouting Department as an Area Scout (2015-19) and then a Pro Scout (2020-21). In his new role as International Crosschecker, Puig will assist in evaluating and supervising all talent acquisition related to International amateur free agents, mostly consisting of players from the Caribbean and Latin America. He will also assist in supervising the Area Scouts in the Caribbean and Latin America.