Tribe promotes 6 in baseball ops leadership

November 5th, 2019

CLEVELAND -- Now that the Indians’ coaching staff is set, the organization has finalized its internal promotions within the club’s baseball operations leadership group.

On Tuesday, the Indians announced that Sky Andrecheck was promoted to assistant general manager. Within the scouting department, Paul Gillispie became the vice president of international scouting, James Harris moved to VP of player development and Victor Wang was promoted to VP of player acquisitions. Finally, Alex Eckelman became the director of hitting development and Matt Blake became the director of pitching development.

Andrecheck has spent the past four seasons leading the Tribe’s research and development efforts. In that role, he oversaw the club’s analysts and data scientists while bringing advanced quantitative and analytical research to the organization. As he enters his 11th season with Cleveland, his title will change; however, he’s expected to continue to oversee the research and development department while expanding his role across all facets of baseball operations.

Gillispie will be entering his 14th season with the Indians in 2020. Over the past three years, he’s overseen all aspects of the club’s international scouting department, including both Latin America and the Pacific Rim, while leading the efforts of acquiring amateur and professional international players.

Harris’ title will change from director to vice president of player development for his fourth season with the Tribe. He will continue to lead and manage the player development department and oversee all aspects of the Indians’ farm system, including the organization’s six Minor League affiliates and Dominican Summer League team.

Wang has been the director of professional scouting for the past three years, though his tenure with Cleveland covers 11 seasons. Instead of just being limited to the club’s professional scouting efforts, his new role will also spread across all player acquisition areas.

Both Eckelman and Blake had previously served as assistant directors of player development, and they will now break out to head the hitting and pitching departments, respectively.