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Braves Announce New Additions to Baseball Operations Department

ATLANTA, Ga. - The Atlanta Braves today announced seven personnel moves in the organization's baseball operations department. The moves include four new hires and three promotions and were made by John Coppolella, Braves General Manager. The new members of the organization include Ted Simmons, Matt Kinzer, and Leon Wurth as Major League scouts and Kiley McDaniel as Assistant Director, Baseball Operations. In addition, A.J. Scola has been promoted to Manager, Minor League Operations, Danielle Monday is now Assistant, Baseball Operations and Chris Lionetti moves to Assistant, Scouting.

Simmons, 66, spent the last five seasons with the Seattle Mariners as a Special Advisor to the General Manager. The former switch-hitting catcher played 21 seasons with St. Louis (1968-80), Milwaukee (1981-85) and Atlanta (1986-1988) before transitioning to a front office role with St. Louis from 1988-1991. He was Senior Vice President & General Manager with Pittsburgh in 1992 and 1993 and also worked for Cleveland and San Diego before joining Seattle for the 2011 season.

Kinzer, 52, worked in Miami's organization for the past five seasons, serving as an advance scout and also as a pro scout in 2015. A right-handed pitcher, Kinzer appeared in nine games combined with St. Louis and Detroit over the 1989 and 1990 seasons. He began his scouting career in 1996 with Tampa Bay. He also played one game for the Detroit Lions in 1987, serving as the team's punter.

Wurth, 62, was a pro scout with Milwaukee last season, his 13th campaign with the club. Prior to joining the Brewers, Wurth scouted for the New York Yankees from 1993-2002. 

McDaniel, 30, served as the lead prospect analyst for Fangraphs.com prior to joining the Braves. He previously worked for the Yankees (2005-2007), Baltimore (2010) and Pittsburgh (2011).

Scola, 29, joined the Braves in 2013 after working with Cleveland in 2012. He attended Amherst College and the University of Connecticut School of Law.

Monday, 24, spent the last two seasons as a baseball operations trainee after working at Major League Baseball's offices in 2013.

Lionetti, 24, served as a baseball operations trainee after joining the organization in 2014. He also worked as a video coordinator for the University of Georgia. 

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