NEW HIRES AND PROMOTIONS IN TIGERS BASEBALL OPERATIONS STRENGTHEN PURSUIT OF LONG-TERM, SUSTAINABLE SUCCESS

Organization continues push to maximize player performance through advancements in sports science and analytical data, complementing investments in scouting and player development

DETROIT – The Detroit Tigers have announced a series of new hires and promotions in its Baseball Operations Department.

“These personnel moves are a big step towards our goal of bringing Tigers fans and the city of Detroit the championship-caliber ballclub they deserve,” said Al Avila, Tigers Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations and General Manager. “Spanning areas including amateur scouting, player development, analytics and our Major League Club, these staff additions and changes bring together a group of bright, innovative and diverse minds to our organization. We’ve created new positions by adding Dr. Georgia Giblin as Director of Performance Science and Dan Hubbs as Director of Pitching Development and Strategies, while Kenny Graham joins us from the Brewers serving as Director of Player Development. Graham’s major area of focus will be to develop and implement new player development hitting strategies. Their impact will be felt across the organization, with the general mission of maximizing performance of the players we have wearing the Olde English ‘D’. We’re excited for what’s to come with this group.”

Baseball Administration

After serving as a Manager in the Tigers player development system for the last six years, Lance Parrish transitions into the role of Special Assistant to the Executive Vice President, Baseball Operations and General Manager. Parrish managed Single A West Michigan in 2018-19 and Double A Erie in 2014-17. His other stints in a coaching capacity with the organization include Tigers Major League bullpen coach (2000, 2003-05) and third base coach (1999, 2001). Prior to his coaching career, he played 19 seasons in the Majors, including 10 with the Tigers. Over his Major League career, Parrish was an eight-time All-Star and won six Silver Slugger Awards and three Gold Gloves. He was a member of Detroit’s 1984 World Series Championship Team.

Major League Staff

Josh Paul joins the Tigers as Quality Control Coach after spending the previous three seasons as the bench coach for the Los Angeles Angels. Prior to his time with the Angels, Paul spent nine seasons in the New York Yankees organization, serving as the Manager for Single A Staten Island in 2009-10, as a professional scout for the organization from 2011-14 and as the organization’s Minor League catching coordinator from 2015-17.

Paul played parts of nine seasons at the Major League level with the Chicago White Sox (1999-2003), Chicago Cubs (2003), Angels (2004-05) and Tampa Bay Devil Rays (2006-07). In 321 career games at the big-league level, Paul hit .244/.303/.341 with 35 doubles, two triples, 10 home runs and 73 RBI.

Originally drafted by the White Sox in the second round of the 1996 MLB First-Year Player Draft, Paul played collegiately at Vanderbilt University. He played for the Cotuit Kettleers of the Cape Cod League in 1995 and became the only player in league history to win the batting title, MVP Award and Outstanding Pro Prospect Award in the same season. He was inducted into the Cape Cod League Hall of Fame in 2006.

Assuming the role of Assistant Athletic Trainer, Chris McDonald recently completed his 18^th season in the Tigers organization and his fifth as the athletic trainer for Triple A Toledo. Prior to his five seasons with the Mud Hens, McDonald served as the trainer with Double A Erie for eight seasons. McDonald has been named the International League Trainer of the Year by the Professional Baseball Athletic Trainers Society (PBATS) each of the last two seasons and was also named the Eastern League Trainer of the Year by PBATS in 2011. He has also served as trainer for the Gulf Coast League Tigers (2001), Single A Oneonta (2002) and Single A Lakeland (2003-05). McDonald graduated from Bowling Green State University in 2000 with a degree in Education after also majoring in Sport Management with an emphasis in Athletic Training.

Matt Rosenhamer will serve as the Club’s Assistant Major League Strength and Conditioning Coordinator after spending the 2019 season as the strength and conditioning coach for Double A Erie, which marked his fourth season in the Tigers organization. Prior to his time with the SeaWolves, Rosenhamer served as the strength and conditioning coach for Single A Lakeland in 2018, Single A West Michigan in 2017, Single A Connecticut in 2016 and the Gulf Coast League Tigers in 2015. Before joining Detroit, he completed internships within the field of health and exercise physiology at Emporia State University, Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas and the University of Tulsa. He completed his Bachelor of Science in Health Promotion at Emporia State University, where he also played football.

Returning to the Major League clubhouse next season will be Kan Ikeda and Kyle Lanczki, who will have the titles of Major League Advanced Scouting Coordinator and Major League Advanced Scouting Assistant, respectively. Ikeda has additional responsibilities with the Club’s scouting departments, assisting with international professional scouting in Asia. Joining them in the video room this season will be Austin Tripp, who transitions to his role of Major League Video Coordinator. He previously served as the Club’s Coordinator of Minor League Baseball Information (2018-19) and as a Baseball Information Assistant in the Dominican Republic (2018).

Player Development

Kenny Graham joins the organization as Director of Player Development after serving as the Minor League hitting coordinator for the Milwaukee Brewers over the last four seasons. Graham will focus on hitting development and strategies and establish an organization-wide hitting protocol with an emphasis on measuring data and technology to aid growth and performance. Prior to his time with the Brewers, Graham spent seven seasons in the Toronto Blue Jays system, including as the co-hitting coordinator (2015) and hitting coach at Single A Lansing (2012-13, 2015), Single A Bluefield (2011) and Single A Auburn (2010). He also managed the organization’s Gulf Coast League affiliate in 2014 and served as the hitting coach for the Independent League’s Gary RailCats for two seasons (2008-09). Prior to his coaching career, Graham attended Indiana University where he was an outfielder on the baseball team and earned a degree in Kinesiology.

Serving as the Club’s first Director of Performance Science, Dr. Georgia Giblin joined the Tigers in 2018 as a post-doctoral fellow through a partnership with the University of Michigan. The focus of Dr. Giblin’s work has been building and implementing a sustainable system under which the Club can assist players to perform at their maximum capacity and stay healthy through the use of traditional baseball methods and advanced technology. Prior to joining the Tigers, Dr. Giblin completed her doctorate in Biomechanics and Skill Acquisition at Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia, and worked four years as a Biomechanist at the Queensland Academy of Sport, providing biomechanical support to the softball, track and field, triathlon and archery Olympic programs.

In the newly created position of Director of Pitching Development and Strategies, Dan Hubbs will work to establish an organization-wide pitching protocol with a particular emphasis on leveraging data and technology to aid growth and performance. He most recently served as the head baseball coach at the University of Southern California (2013-2019), where he coached 37 players who were drafted and went on to play professional baseball. Hubbs began his time at USC in 2012 when he came in as associate head coach after spending 12 seasons as pitching coach at the University of California, Berkeley (2000-2011). Before his time with the Golden Bears, Hubbs served as the pitching coach for the Los Angeles (NL) Single A affiliate Yakima Bears (1998) and as a volunteer assistant coach at Pepperdine University (1999). Prior to his transition into coaching, Hubbs was an All-American pitcher at USC (1993) and played seven years in the minors with the Los Angeles (NL) and Philadelphia organizations, advancing to the Triple A level.

Dave Owen, who previously held the title of Director of Player Development, will now serve as the Minor League Field Coordinator. Entering his 10^th season with the organization, Owen joined the Tigers after three seasons on the Major League coaching staff with Kansas City, including as bench coach in 2008 and third base coach in 2009-10. Prior to his time with the Royals, Owen was a coach with the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters in 2009 and served as a coach with the Philadelphia Phillies for three seasons (2004-06). Before transitioning to his coaching career, Owen spent 12 seasons as a scout for Chicago (AL) (1992-96), Detroit (1997-99) and Philadelphia (2000-03), in addition to four seasons playing in the Major Leagues and 11 seasons in the Minors.

Jordan Wergiles will serve as the Coordinator of Player Development Analytics after spending the 2019 season as an intern in the Baseball Analytics Department. He graduated from Wake Forest University this spring with a degree in Business and Enterprise Management and concentration in Sports Analytics, with a double minor in Mathematical Statistics and Computer Science.

Minor League Field Staff

Entering the third season of his coaching career, Brayan Peña will lead the staff at Single A West Michigan after serving as the Manager at Single A Connecticut last season. In 2018, Peña led the Gulf Coast League Tigers West team to the GCL Championship in his first year as a coach, posting a 37-16 record, .277 (292×1670) batting average and 3.06 ERA (435.0IP/148ER). During his 12-year playing career, Peña posted a .259/.299/.351 slash line, knocking 23 home runs and driving in 164 runs.

John Murrian is now in his second year as a coach, serving as the Hitting Coach for Single A West Michigan this season. He held the same role with the Gulf Coast League Tigers West in 2019, after transitioning to coaching from a role as the bullpen catcher in Detroit for five seasons. Prior to that he had a five year Minor League playing career, hitting .243/.301/.381 with 20 home runs and 116 RBI. His primary position was catcher, where he threw out a combined 33 percent of runners (87×178) over the course of his career behind the plate.

Bill Springman joins the coaching staff at Single A Lakeland as the hitting coach after serving in the same position last year for Single A Connecticut. Springman, who will be in his third season in the Tigers organization in 2020, was the hitting coach for the Gulf Coast League Tigers West in 2018. Prior to his time with Detroit, Springman was the hitting coach for the Uni-Lions of the Chinese Professional Baseball League. He spent the 2015 season as an advisor to player development and senior hitting advisor for the Kansas City Royals. Springman was a member of the Minnesota Twins organization for 14 seasons, serving in various coaching capacities including as a Minor League hitting coordinator and mental skills coach (2006-14), Triple A Rochester hitting coach (2005) and Triple A Salt Lake hitting coach (1997-2000). He also worked as a scout for the Chicago Cubs (1995-96) and Milwaukee Brewers (2001-02) organizations. Originally drafted by the California Angels in the seventh round of the 1978 draft, the former infielder played three seasons in the Angels Minor League system.

Amateur Scouting

James Orr moves to the position of National Crosschecker and Taylor Black to the role of East Regional Crosschecker after serving as East Regional Crosschecker and Area Scout (NC, SC), respectively.

Darold Brown joins the organization as an Area Scout covering Northern Nevada and Northern California. He previously worked in Amateur Scouting as an Area Scout for Toronto (2010-19) and Arizona (2007-10). Drafted by Atlanta in the 23^rd round of the 1993 MLB Draft, he played six seasons of professional baseball.

Covering South Texas, Bryce Mosier comes to the Tigers after serving as the West Coast Video Coordinator for the Atlanta Braves in 2019 and Associate Scout (2016-17). He was drafted by Chicago (AL) in the 33^rd round of the 2011 MLB Draft, and played two seasons in the Minor Leagues.

Baseball Analytics

Gabe Ho transitions to the role of Analyst after spending the 2019 season as an intern in the Baseball Analytics Department. He graduated from Stanford University earlier this year with a degree in Bioengineering. Additionally, he is the Club’s participant in the MLB Diversity Pipeline Program.

Joining the Tigers as a Database Engineer is Charlie Adams, who previously worked at Willis Towers Watson in Bloomington, Minnesota, where he most recently held the title of product support developer. He graduated from the University of Minnesota-Duluth with a degree in Management Information Systems.

Elora Strom rounds out the Baseball Analytics additions, serving as a software developer. She is a recent graduate of Carnegie Mellon University’s Computer Science Program, which has been ranked as the top CS program in the country.

Summary of New Hires, Promotions and Staff Changes

Baseball Administration

Lance Parrish – Special Assistant to the EVP of Baseball Operations and GM

Major League Staff

Josh Paul – Quality Control Coach
Chris McDonald – Assistant Athletic Trainer
Matt Rosenhamer – Assistant Major League Strength and Conditioning Coordinator
Kan Ikeda – Major League Advance Scouting Coordinator and International Pro Scout (Asia)
Kyle Lanczki – Major League Advance Scouting Assistant
Austin Tripp – Major League Video Coordinator

Player Development