PHILADELPHIA -- When Don Kelly inherited the managerial title last week, he also inherited most of the Pirates’ coaching staff. There was one glaring hole, though -- his old job, bench coach.
He had a dream candidate: Gene Lamont. Lamont was the bench coach for Jim Leyland and Brad Ausmus in Detroit, and the veteran had twice been a bench coach for Leyland in Pittsburgh (while also serving as his successor as Pirates manager from 1997-2000). He had over three decades of Major League coaching experience. On paper, he was perfect.
He was also very retired. Kelly decided to reach out anyway, and Lamont was on board.
“For him to even consider doing it and to come up and to do this means a lot to me,” Kelly said. “We’re fortunate to have him with the Pirates.”
The Pirates announced several updates to their Major League coaching staff Friday, including Lamont, who will serve as a special advisor to Kelly. Chris Truby -- who had served as Triple-A Indianapolis’ manager -- is also joining as a coach. Shawn Bowman, who started the season as the assistant director of coach and player development, will take over as Indianapolis’ manager.
In layman’s terms, instead of having a traditional bench coach -- a manager’s right-hand man -- the Pirates will instead be spreading the duties that fell under Kelly to several people. Truby will be doing day-to-day operational tasks, helping with the infield and handling communication and messaging. Mike Rabelo will continue to coach third base and will have increased responsibilities in game planning and in-game strategy. Lamont will take over a good chunk of those remaining responsibilities.
“That’s the great thing about Geno,” Kelly said. “He’s not worried about titles. He’s just here to help.”
Truby joined the Pirates in Philadelphia Friday ahead of their series with the Phillies. Lamont will meet the team when it returns to Pittsburgh Monday.
Truby joined the Pirates in January of 2022 as the Minor League infield coordinator. He was appointed Indianapolis’ manager ahead of this season after serving as the club's bench coach last year.
“Coming up from Triple-A, I had an opportunity to work with him the last few years,” Kelly said. “... Just really excited to add him to the staff.”
The Pirates now find themselves with two new coaches on the staff after dismissing Derek Shelton and game planning and strategy coach Radley Haddad last week. Midseason shakeups don’t normally offer a chance to revamp a coaching staff too often, but Pittsburgh is bringing in a respected veteran voice and someone from the player development side, two areas that have obvious appeal.
“I think the number one thing is we’re trying to make sure that we have what we needed in Pittsburgh, as far as experience, decision making and stuff like that,” Kelly said. “Number two is trying to disrupt the system, if you will, from coaching and player development and moving guys around on the Major League staff and just making sure we’re in the same spot here. I think we were able to accomplish that.”