PITTSBURGH -- After six years under pitching coach Oscar Marin, manager Don Kelly felt it was time for a change. There was no question that the team’s pitching staff and rotation were the strength of the club, but sources told MLB.com that the room was looking to be pushed further, that there was another gear to reach.
It turned out Kelly felt the same.
“It just felt like we needed a new voice at the top of the pitching team to continue to challenge these guys and keep pushing them forward,” Kelly said Tuesday ahead of the #BurghProud Thanksgiving meal distribution event the Pirates helped coordinate.
Marin’s dismissal came as a surprise to many, but the hiring of new pitching coach Bill Murphy has been met with positive reviews. Murphy and Kelly briefly crossed paths when Kelly was the first-base coach in Houston in 2019 and Murphy was the coordinator, but they didn’t get to know each other well.
There are plenty of aspects that go into coaching pitching these days. A good coach needs to understand the latest trends and help convey analytical and mechanical data, but they also need to build relationships and earn players’ trust. Kelly sees Murphy being able to do all of that.
"I think it's just continuing to challenge the guys to push them to continue to get better,” Kelly said. “The pitching staff is the foundation. Really believe strongly in [Murphy's] skill set, the knowledge and the communication style that he brings from Houston to accomplish that."
The Pirates’ coaching staff is not yet finalized -- Kelly said one or two more hires are still expected -- but they came into the offseason with three clear areas of need: pitching coach, bench coach and third-base coach. Those three spots have been filled by Murphy, Kristopher Negrón and Tony Beasley, respectively.
"[It’s been a] really thorough process,” Kelly said. “The guys that we brought in we think the world of.”
For Beasley, this is his third stint with the Pirates, first serving as a Minor League manager before being the third-base coach with the team from 2008-10. Kelly was with the Tigers’ farm system for most of that, but remembered one day that the two were face to face.
"We had some interaction when Erie played Altoona,” Kelly said with a grin. “... Nobody was on the benches."
During that skirmish, Kelly was impressed with how Beasley protected his players. Beasley had spent the last 11 years on the Rangers’ staff and Kelly made it a point to reach out whenever they would play the Pirates.
“Always respected how he handled things and the way he went about it,” Kelly said. “To see his career transpire through Washington and Texas. The human and overcoming cancer and everything that he means. To bring him in as a really strong baseball guy [is great].”
Negrón’s pathway to becoming Pirates’ bench coach is strikingly similar to what Kelly’s was in 2019. After a six-year Major League career as a utilityman, Negrón made the leap to player development after retiring in 2019. He took over as manager of the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers in 2021 and was elevated to the Mariners’ coaching staff in 2022 as a first-base coach before moving to third-base coach in 2025.
While being a utility player isn’t a prerequisite for the job, it certainly gives Negrón a unique lens of the game. Kelly used to manage along with the game when he was with the Tigers, thinking how he could be used in a game. Being able to view the game through that lens as a utility player helped him prepare for his coaching career.
"It just lends itself to preparation and knowing the ins and outs of the game,” Kelly said.
Kelly operated last year without a traditional bench coach, spreading the duties across several members of the staff. Negrón will give him someone he can fall back on in his first full year as a manager.
“I personally didn't know before the process started,” Kelly said. “A lot of great recommendations, and even after we hired him, the people that were texting me, [people] that I really respected, about who he is as a baseball guy and the experience that he brings. Coming off the run in Seattle, I’m really excited to have him.”