Commissioner Robert D. Manfred, Jr. today announced the hiring of Jorge Pérez-Diaz as Major League Baseball's Senior Vice President and Special Counsel, Litigation and International Affairs.
In this new capacity, Pérez-Diaz will be a liaison to the legal counsel of all 30 Major League Clubs and will manage various legal issues in the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Venezuela, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Haiti and throughout Latin America. Reporting to MLB Chief Legal Officer Dan Halem, Pérez-Diaz will provide advice and services on matters under MLB's Baseball Operations and International Departments.
Commissioner Manfred said: "Jorge is a highly skilled professional who is well-versed on many issues that are unique to our game and its global nature. Future opportunities in Latin America represent one of the game's most exciting prospects, and we look forward to Jorge's continued contributions in this new role."
Pérez-Diaz has consulted with MLB on Latin American issues since January 2010. In November of the same year, he succeeded Sandy Alderson as MLB's interim head of Latin American Oversight, assuming responsibility for continuing the implementation of changes aimed at improving operations in Latin America. In that role, he conferred with a three-member Club committee on Latin American Oversight.
Pérez-Diaz was a partner in the Puerto Rican law firm Pietrantoni Mendez & Alvarez LLP, which he joined in 1993 after spending eight years in several government positions in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, including as Attorney General and Solicitor General. Pérez-Diaz has served as President of the Appeals Commission of the Puerto Rico Anti-Doping Commission and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Puerto Rico Baseball Academy and High School. A graduate of Fairfield University, Pérez-Diaz has a juris doctorate from the University of Puerto Rico and an LLM from Harvard Law School.