PITTSBURGH -- The Pirates are making changes to their Major League coaching staff, parting ways with pitching coach Oscar Marin and third base coach Mike Rabelo, per source. Additionally, assistant pitching coach Brent Strom will not have his contract renewed.
The Pirates have not yet confirmed the moves. Additional changes to the coaching staff could also be coming.
Marin and Rabelo were two of the longest-tenured members of the coaching staff and were among former manager Derek Shelton’s first hires during the 2019 offseason. The club announced that manager Don Kelly signed a contract extension Monday, and after a 71-91 campaign with a mostly inherited coaching staff, some changes were expected.
“[General manager] Ben [Cherington] and I, today, started talking through that,” Kelly said Monday. “I know we’re going to have more discussions, dig deeper on that. Not sure exactly where that’s going to go, but we’re currently beating that up today and then I’m sure over the next couple days as well.”
The Pirates boasted one of the better pitching staffs in baseball this season, finishing with a 3.76 ERA, the third-lowest in the National League. The staff ERA had consistently improved each year, going from 5.08 in 2021 to 4.66 in 2022 to 4.60 in 2023 to 4.15 in 2024.
Some of that can be attributed to the talent pool available, as the Pirates have graduated several top prospects to the Majors the past two years, like Paul Skenes, Jared Jones, Bubba Chandler, Braxton Ashcraft and Mike Burrows, but those young pitchers also quickly made impacts at the Major League level.
The Pirates took input from players on pitching programs and approach in regards to Marin, which played a factor in the decision to part ways and try to take an additional step as an organization.
Rabelo originally joined as the Major League field coordinator and took over third base coach duties ahead of the 2022 season. He also inherited some bench coach responsibilities in May once Kelly was elevated to manager. The Pirates made 17 outs at home this season, right in line with the Major League average of 16, and finished tied for last in baseball in extra bases taken on hits with 103.
Strom joined the coaching staff this year in a teaching role to supplement Marin. The veteran pitching coach was the head of the Astros’ staff from 2014-2021 and the Diamondbacks from 2022-2024. He informed the Pirates of his resignation six weeks ago to give them an option to look for another assistant pitching coach, and he would entertain an opportunity elsewhere if a team wanted his services.
There’s no official word yet on Gene Lamont, who was officially a special advisor to Kelly but also had some bench coach duties. Lamont is 78 years old, though, so Kelly should have some autonomy of who his next bench coach will be.
An earlier version of this story stated that Strom was considering retirement, which has been redacted.