Joel Hanrahan’s promotion to Altoona highlights Pirates ‘19 minor-league coaching assignments

The Pittsburgh Pirates announced their minor-league managerial and coaching assignments Friday, and the most familiar name to casual fans will be the pitching coach at Double-A Altoona.

Popular former Pirates closer Joel Hanrahan was bumped from the Pirates’ Class Low-A affiliate to serve as the pitching coach for the Double-A Curve in 2019. Hanrahan was one of the game’s best relievers during his tenure with Pirates from 2009-12, posting a 2.59 ERA and saving 82 of the 238 games he appeared in.

Among managerial moves in the Pirates’ system, Wyatt Torregas was moved from managing the Low-A team (last year based in West Virginia) to High-A Bradenton. Former Bradenton Marauders manager Gera Alvarez stayed in Bradenton but dropped to the rookie-level Gulf Coast League Pirates.

Greensboro, site of the Pirates’ new Low-A affiliate, will now be managed by Miguel Perez. Perez in 2018 managed the Advanced Rookie class affiliate in Bristol, Tenn.

Manager Kieran Mattison moves from the Short-season Class A West Virginia Black Bears (based in Morgantown) to Bristol. Drew Saylor is the new manager of the Black Bears.

Bryan Hickerson new pitching coach at Triple-A Indianapolis, moving up from Altoona and replacing Stan Kyles. Kyles will serve in that capacity in 2019 at Greensboro.

For a full list of managers and coaches across all nine affiliates in the Pirates’ minor league system, click here.

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Chris Adamski is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Chris at cadamski@tribweb.com or via Twitter @C_AdamskiTrib.