Donny Rowland is out after a 15-year run as the Yankees’ director of international scouting, as first reported Wednesday by The Athletic.
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman confirmed the move on a Zoom call with reporters attending the GM Meetings in Las Vegas.
Cashman said the club is gathering names and will schedule interviews to determine a successor for Rowland, who oversaw the signings of players like Jasson Domínguez, Luis Severino and Miguel Andújar.
“His contract had expired, so just like everything else, you’ve got to make some very difficult decisions,” Cashman said. “I’ve been involved with Donny Rowland for a long time. But fork in the road, [his] contract had expired and so I made the difficult decision to look for a different lead voice in that chair.”
Rowland, 62, spent 23 seasons with the organization. The Yankees' track record of international signings has been checkered by high-profile misses -- like shortstop Alexander Vargas, who was signed for $2.5 million in 2019 and was released this past August.
However, there are potential success stories still to come: right-hander Carlos Lagrange, for example, is currently rated as the organization’s No. 2 prospect by MLB Pipeline. Lagrange was signed for just $10,000 out of the Dominican Republic in February 2022.
Rowland’s exit echoes other moves made on the Major League staff with regard to expiring contracts, as bullpen coach Mike Harkey and first-base coach Travis Chapman were also not retained.