SEATTLE -- The Mariners this week announced a slew of promotions within baseball operations under department president Jerry Dipoto.

Each of the eight will take on a new title and expanded responsibilities. Here is a list of that group:

• David Hesslink -- director, baseball projects (previous: assistant director, baseball projects)
• Skylar Shibayama -- director, baseball strategy (previous: manager, data strategy)
• Emily Curtis -- coordinator, baseball projects (previous: baseball analyst)
• Forrest Diamond -- coordinator, analytics (previous: baseball analyst)
• Austin Yamada -- coordinator, player personnel (previous: scouting analyst)
• Jenny Goldsher -- assistant, baseball projects (previous: intern, baseball projects)
• Sameer Sapre -- assistant, baseball projects (previous: intern, baseball projects)
• Matt Ault -- scouting analyst (previous: baseball analyst)

“This group of growth-minded young leaders continues to make significant impact throughout our department,” Dipoto said in a statement. “I’m confident that their intelligence, creativity and attention to detail will continue to be a driving force for the Mariners in the years ahead.”

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And here is some background on each:

Hesslink is entering his fifth season in Seattle’s front office and has been involved in all areas of baseball ops, while focusing on finding ways to connect analytics with on-field operations. He transitioned from the playing field to front office after playing one season at Short-A Everett back in 2017, when he was a 34th-round selection by Dipoto’s staff.

Shibayama, a Yale graduate who began working for Dipoto as an intern in 2018, spent last season implementing strategic innovations via analytical research and education, with a focus on in-game strategy. As part of his promotion, he will oversee the advance scouting process and maintain his role in the Mariners’ analytics department. He will continue working closely with the Major League coaching staff and front office on strategy, game theory, objective decision-making and educational initiatives.

Curtis, who has an MS from the University of Washington, has been with the Baseball Analytics team the last several years working primarily with the high-performance group on data-based injury prediction. She’s also supported the baseball projects group in report building, design, and communication. In her promotion, she will continue supporting the data and information efforts of the HP group, as well as in player development as part of the player plan process.

Diamond, who also began as an intern in 2018 after studying neuroscience and philosophy at Boston University, spent the last three seasons building quantitative models for use throughout baseball ops, as well as assisting with player evaluation and acquisition. In his promotion, Diamond will continue in his research and development role while working with other analysts to promote collaboration.

Yamada, a University of Southern California graduate, was an intern in 2019, a scouting assistant in ’20 and an analyst in ’21, assisting in player acquisitions, managing information to help maintain prospect lists and compiling scouting reports. He interned with STATS, LLC and Wasserman Media Group prior to joining the Mariners.

Goldsher is a former softball player at Rollins College in Winter Park, Fla., where she also studied computer science and psychology. She provides support and innovative tools to optimize player development, player acquisition, in-game strategy and other related areas of baseball ops.

Sapre, a 2020 graduate of Penn State University, where he studied data sciences, builds web applications and tools for Seattle’s player development and sports science staff while working on creating efficient data pipelines for research and development processes.

Ault graduated from the University of Maryland in 2020, where he studied finance and data analytics and served as Maryland Baseball’s Director of Baseball Analytics for the ‘19 and ‘20 seasons before joining the Mariners last season.