Notes: International Signees, New Coach, Exes On The Move

Notes: 

• The Pirates signed a pair of MLB Pipeline Top 15 international prospects: OF Tony Blanco Jr., (#11-$900K) and SS Yordany De Los Santos (#12-$1.2M), both 16-years-old (Baseball America has De Los Santos rated #34 in its Top 50 with Blanco just outside the list). The Pittsburgh international signing pool is $6,262,600 total. 19 players were signed per Baseball America. John Dreker of Pittsburgh Baseball Network has scouting reports on most of them.
• In a hiring leaked before Christmas, the Pirates made official the hiring of the organization’s first female coach, Caityln Callahan, as a minor league development coach. The 26-year-old Callahan played softball at Boston University and St. Mary’s (Calif.), and spent the past two seasons working as an minor league video and baseball technology intern for the Reds.
• RHP Kyle Keller has signed with the Hanshin Tigers in Japan. His deal nets him a guaranteed $1.3M/ $300K in incentives. 

Kyle Crick - 2020 image/Pirates

• RHP Kyle Crick, who the Pirates released and then was claimed by the White Sox as insurance, reportedly re-signed with Chicago after opting out of the organization in September.
• Christian Bethancourt, 30, who hit .280 at Indy last year while playing OF, C, 1B and even pitching twice, has been signed to a minor league deal by the Oakland As.
• The Mets have chosen Glenn Sherlock as their new bench coach after he coached for the Pirates for the last two seasons. Sherlock had ties to both the Mets and manager Buck Showalter, greasing the skids.
• 33-year-old OF Travis Snider has retired. He played parts of eight seasons for the Blue Jays, Pirates (2012-15) and Orioles, working last year in AAA Gwinnett for Atlanta.
• OF Melky Cabrera, 37, retired. He played 15 MLB seasons from 2005-19 for eight different clubs. His last big league season was with the Pirates, where he hit .280; he spent the past two campaigns in the Dominican Winter League.