ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.—The Tampa Bay Rays have made the following promotions and title changes impacting Player Development and Baseball Development. Additional Baseball Operations promotions and changes will be announced later this offseason:
PLAYER DEVELOPMENT
Name Updated Title (Previous Title)
Blake Butera Senior Director, Player Development (Assistant Field Coordinator)
George Pappas Director, Minor League Operations (Assistant Director, Minor League Operations)
Simon Rosenbaum Director, Player Programs & Integration (Asst Director, Minor League Ops & Baseball Development)
Alejandro Freire Assistant Director, Coaching & Player Development (Field Coordinator)
Winston Doom Director, Pitching (Pitching Strategist)
Ryan Pennell Assistant Director, Pitching (Assistant Director, Performance Science & Player Development)
BASEBALL DEVELOPMENT
Name Updated Title (Previous Title)
Jeff McLerran Senior Director, Baseball Development (Director, Minor League Operations)
Blake Butera has been promoted to Senior Director, Player Development and assumes the lead player development role, overseeing the entire player development process.
George Pappas has been promoted to Director, Minor League Operations and Simon Rosenbaum has been promoted to Director, Player Programs & Integration. These player development focused director roles will support Blake Butera in all facets of our minor league operation.
Winston Doom has been promoted to Director, Pitching, responsible for our organization-wide pitching development plan as well as supporting pitcher procurement.
Jeff McLerran has been promoted to Senior Director, Baseball Development. In this position he will support the Baseball Operations leadership with an emphasis on improving all facets of the operation.
"We are fortunate to have a lot of talented people with wide-ranging abilities and interests. These changes are about putting great people in the best position to strengthen our long-term competitiveness. We’re excited to see each of them excel in their new roles,” said Erik Neander, Rays President, Baseball Operations.