TORONTO -- One of the Blue Jays' longest-serving front-office executives has decided to join his former boss in Atlanta.
Andrew Tinnish officially left his post as Toronto's assistant general manager this week to become the Braves' vice president of amateur and international scouting. Tinnish had been with the Blue Jays since the early 2000s and held several high-profile roles in the organization under former GM Alex Anthopoulos, who's now the GM and executive vice president of the Braves.
Tinnish spent three years as Toronto's director of amateur scouting, and in 2012, he was promoted to assistant GM. One of his best Drafts came in 2010, when Tinnish selected Aaron Sanchez, Noah Syndergaard, Asher Wojciechowski and Justin Nicolino with four of his first seven picks. He also drafted Marcus Stroman, Anthony Alford and Daniel Norris, to name a few.
Anthopoulos parted ways with the Blue Jays organization in 2015, citing that he was no longer "the right fit" under new president Mark Shapiro. Anthopoulos spent last season as VP of baseball operations for the Dodgers before joining Atlanta as GM earlier this month. Anthopoulos' front office is taking on a distinctly Toronto feel with the Braves, as Tinnish joins former Toronto executive Perry Minasian, who was promoted by Anthopoulos to assistant GM on Monday.
The Blue Jays still have two assistant GMs -- Tony LaCava and Joe Sheehan -- under contract following Tinnish's departure. Sheehan formerly worked for Anthopoulos as the director of analytics, but he was promoted late last year to assistant GM. LaCava also served as assistant GM under Anthopoulos and was Toronto's interim GM for a brief period of time before GM Ross Atkins was hired from Cleveland.
In Tinnish's most recent role with the Blue Jays, he was in charge of international scouting. He was part of the Toronto contingent that watched Japanese sensation Shohei Ohtani this summer, but the Blue Jays had enough people in place during the process that Tinnish's departure should not hamper the negotiations.
Tinnish's biggest highlight from the international scene was recruiting prized prospect Vladimir Guerrero Jr. alongside international scouting director Ismael Cruz back in 2015. Cruz now works for the Dodgers.