Calling development the lifeblood of the Pittsburgh Pirates organization, Derek Shelton formally announced the shuffling of his coaching staff Thursday, adding two new members and putting two of the men he trusts the most in charge of the duties of one of his former assistants.

Andy Haines was named hitting coach and Radley Haddad was added as game planning and strategy coach, duties which were previously split amongst a group of coaches. Shelton said major league field coordinator Mike Rabelo and bench coach Don Kelly will have expanded roles in replacing Joey Cora. Rabelo will serve as third base coach, while Kelly will handle the infield instruction side.

With the Pirates trending toward a younger team with top prospects reaching the majors, Shelton emphasized the need for his coaching staff to embrace new tactics and work together with the farm system.

“Everything we’re doing at the major league level with our staff is in collaboration with what we’re doing in the minor leagues because, as you guys know, the lifeblood of our organization is gonna come through development,” Shelton said. “If we’re not on the same page, and we’re not building off each other and challenging each other between player development and the big leagues, then we’re gonna fall behind. We’re definitely not gonna let that happen.”

Haines, 44, replaces Rick Eckstein, who was fired Aug. 30. Haines spent the past three seasons in that role for the Milwaukee Brewers after serving as minor league hitting coordinator from 2016-17 and assistant hitting coach for the Chicago Cubs in 2018. Haines will work with staff holdovers in assistant hitting coach Christian Marrero and Tim McKeithan.

“I think the thing that stood out is he’s really open-minded,” Shelton said of Haines, referring to the organization’s emphasis on prospect development. “We’ve seen the hitting space grow exponentially in the last few years. I think when you find guys who have done it, they’re not as open-minded as we thought Andy was. We thought that was kind of a unique blend, a guy who has been a major league hitting coach, been around some really good hitters.”

Haines began his coaching career with the Miami Marlins, starting as a minor league hitting coach before spending seven seasons climbing the ranks as a minor league manager. It was with the Marlins that Haines established a relationship with All-Star outfielder Christian Yelich, who followed winning 2018 NL MVP honors by slashing .329/.429/.671 with 44 home runs and 97 RBIs before suffering a season-ending knee injury in September 2019.

Yelich’s struggles the past two seasons contributed to the Brewers slipping to 23rd in slugging percentage (.396) and 27th in batting average (.233), ranking ahead of only the Marlins in the National League. In the NLDS against Atlanta, the Brewers batted .192, scored six runs, had 48 strikeouts and drew nine walks and were shut out twice.

“I think the vision is where you go with that,” said Shelton, a former hitting coach for Cleveland and Tampa Bay. “It’s really important because you’re going to have up and down offensive years. I can personally attest to that being a hitting coach. There are years where you have guys that struggle. Then, all of a sudden, it falls on the hitting coach.

“I think the big thing for us is his plan going forward, his work not only with major league hitters, but this guy has been a coordinator. He’s managed in the minor leagues. That plays a large part when you become a major league hitting coach; there’s a lot of different factors.”

Shelton is looking for Rabelo to show the “ability to make solid decisions” at third base, especially after Cora made some questionable calls to send slow runners like Colin Moran and Jacob Stallings home. Rabelo managed in the Detroit Tigers’ minor league system before joining the Pirates as assistant hitting coach in 2020, then moved into the field coordinator role last season.

“One of the things that stood out with Rabs going over there is he’s done it for a long time in the minor leagues, having managed in the minor leagues,” Shelton said. “Have total trust that he’ll pay attention to making wise decisions and he’ll also pay attention to the baserunning component of it also.”

Shelton said both Rabelo and Kelly were “very integral” to the practice design that Cora followed. Primarily a corner infielder and outfielder in his major league career with the Pirates, Tigers and Marlins, Kelly has the distinction of playing every position, including pitcher.

“I think there’s a lot of places where the bench coach has defensive responsibilities. Donnie did a lot of infield stuff last year in combination with Joey,” Shelton said. “So, no. It’s not unusual at all.”

Haddad, 31, joins the Pirates after five seasons as a coaching assistant and bullpen catcher for the New York Yankees, where he played four minor league seasons as a catcher. Shelton said the Pirates focused on finding someone with a catching background to deal directly with catchers about pitch sequencing during the game to allow pitching coach Oscar Marin to concentrate on the pitching staff.

Shelton said assistant coach Heberto Andrade is leaving the Pirates after 18 seasons – including 15 as bullpen catcher – to join the San Diego Padres. Assistant coach Glenn Sherlock and bullpen catcher Jordan Comadena will continue working with the catchers.

“It was something I felt strongly on, as we transition, especially with a young staff, that we have someone specifically in that role,” Shelton said of Haddad. “We searched for a really different skill set. What we found out about Radley from his old job is he was doing a lot of that work in conjunction with their pitching group. So it really fit well.”

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