PITTSBURGH -- The Pirates named Tarrik Brock their first-base coach on Friday, continuing to build their made-over Major League coaching staff under new manager Derek Shelton.
Brock, who will turn 46 on Wednesday, will also serve as Pittsburgh’s outfield and baserunning instructor. He is effectively replacing Kimera Bartee, the Bucs’ former first-base coach, in all of those roles.
Brock was the Dodgers’ Minor League outfield and baserunning coordinator for the last three seasons. He has spent most of his coaching career with a focus on outfield defense and baserunning. Brock served as the Marlins organization’s outfield and baserunning coordinator from 2007-13 (he also spent most of the '10 season as Miami's first-base coach), the Astros’ first-base coach/baserunning instructor in ’14, the Padres’ outfield and baserunning coordinator in '15 and San Diego’s first-base coach in '16. The California native began his coaching career in ‘06 as the hitting coach for the Dodgers’ Rookie-level Ogden affiliate.
Last season, the Pirates recorded 60 outs on the bases, the second-most in the Majors behind the Cubs’ 64, and they ranked 20th in the Majors in Fangraphs’ all-encompassing baserunning metric.
A second-round pick by the Tigers in the 1991 Draft, Brock played 12 years in the Minors and one season of independent ball. The outfielder made his Major League debut for the Cubs in 2000, with his first game coming at the Tokyo Dome in Japan. He recorded two hits in 12 at-bats over 13 games.
The Pirates have most of their Major League coaching staff in place. General manager Ben Cherington and Shelton hired Don Kelly as bench coach while retaining hitting coach Rick Eckstein, third-base coach Joey Cora and Justin Meccage as their bullpen coach. Earlier this week, they hired Oscar Marin as their new pitching coach.
Next, Pittsburgh will hire an assistant hitting coach to replace Jacob Cruz, who joined the Brewers in the same capacity earlier this offseason. That will leave one vacancy on the coaching staff.
The Pirates still could hire an assistant pitching coach, a role Meccage held the last two years. But they seem more likely to fill that spot with a quality control-type coach, similar to the role Shelton served in Toronto before becoming Minnesota's bench coach. The club has indicated it will use that final spot to add a coach who possesses a skill-set that complements the rest of the staff.