Pitching coach Ray Searage, bench coach Tom Prince won't return to Pirates in 2020
Pittsburgh Pirates pitching coach Ray Searage and bench coach Tom Prince have been informed by management they are not candidates to return to the team’s major league staff next season.
All other major league coaches will be candidates to keep their jobs after a manager to replace Clint Hurdle is named, the club said in a news release Thursday.
Searage, 64, has been with the Pirates since the 2010 season, ascending to the job of interim pitching coach Aug. 8 and getting the official title three months later. During Searage’s tenure and prior to this season, the Pirates’ pitching staff posted the sixth-lowest ERA (3.78), third-highest save total (372) and lowest bullpen ERA (3.39) in the major leagues.
This season, the Pirates’ ERA was 26th in MLB (5.18).
Prince, 55, had been Hurdle’s bench coach for the past three seasons and replaced him on the rare occasions when he wasn’t with the team. Prince ran the team Sunday during the final game of the season when Hurdle was fired.
After the game, Prince indicated a desire to be considered for the manager’s job, but he said Sunday was not the time to discuss it.
“That’s always going to interest me, but that’s not right now,” he said.
Prince was a catcher with the Pirates from 1987-1993 during a 17-year playing career. He spent a total of 26 years with the organization, including 11 as a minor-league manager.
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Jerry DiPaola is a TribLive reporter covering Pitt athletics since 2011. A Pittsburgh native, he joined the Trib in 1993, first as a copy editor and page designer in the sports department and later as the Pittsburgh Steelers reporter from 1994-2004. He can be reached at jdipaola@triblive.com.
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