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05/04/21   Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski     /      Curve manager Miguel Perez talks with home plate umpire Dane Poncsak during a meeting with Bowie manager Buck Britton at the plate prior to Tuesday's home opener at PNG Field in Altoona.
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Sources: Pirates promote Kieran Mattison, Miguel Perez amid minor league staff shuffling

Patrick Waksmunski/Mirror

Sources: Pirates promote Kieran Mattison, Miguel Perez amid minor league staff shuffling

The Pirates were extremely pleased with the work turned in this past season by Kieran Mattison at High-A Greensboro and Miguel Perez with the Class AA Altoona Curve. Players raved about both men. Mattison’s group was feted as the staff of the year in the organization when postseason awards were announced.

As a result, Pittsburgh will bump each up a level, well-deserved promotions that square with much of the progress the organization has made in the minor leagues.

Sources told the Post-Gazette on Wednesday that Perez, 38, will take over for Brian Esposito managing the Class AAA Indianapolis Indians this season. Mattison will make the jump from High-A to Class AA.

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The moves celebrate a pair of men who’ve made excellent impressions on their bosses and also continue the path toward each one day potentially becoming an MLB manager.

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Perez this past season was an important mentor for Latin players such as Oneil Cruz, Roansy Contreras and Rodolfo Castro, who each debuted in the big leagues and will be counted upon as key parts of the Pirates’ next push.

Hit hard by injuries and some challenges on the pitching side, the Curve this past season finished fourth in the Class AA Northwest League’s Southwest Division at 58-59. Perez managed Greensboro, then the Pirates’ Low-A affiliate, in 2019, leading the Grasshoppers to a 79-59 record and a third-place finish.

Perez, a catcher who signed with Cincinnati as a non-drafted free agent in 2000 and eventually became the Reds’ defensive player in the year in the minors, will be assisted by Drew Benes (pitching), Jon Nunnally (hitting) and two others, as the Pirates expand their minor league coaching staffs from four to five.

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As for Mattison, 41, he presided on arguably the most exciting team in the Pirates’ farm system, the Grasshoppers featuring players many believe will eventually become part of the future in Pittsburgh.

Leaning on top draft choices such as Nick Gonzales and Quinn Priester, as well as a top-10 prospect in shortstop Liover Peguero, minor league Gold Glove winner Jared Triolo and even getting a late-season cameo from 2021 first-round pick Henry Davis, Mattison’s Grasshoppers went 74-46 to finish second in the High-A East League.

That was the third-most wins in all of High-A and tied for the 11th-most in MiLB, though Greensboro dropped its playoff series to High-A Bowling Green in five games.

Offensively, Mattison was in charge of a group that finished first among High-A East teams in runs scored (723), hits (1,049) and total bases (1,865), second in home runs (188) and third in slugging percentage (.454) and OPS (.790).

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Mattison, who pitched for East Carolina and has spent time playing or managing in nearly a dozen countries, spent 2019 with the Pirates’ rookie-level team in Bristol before jumping to affiliated ball in 2021.

Taking over in Greensboro will be Callix Crabbe, who’s new to the organization. Crabbe, 38, was previously an assistant hitting coach with the Texas Rangers. He, too, has a bit of a unique background, having been born in the Virgin Islands, although he grew up in Stone Mountain, Ga.

Crabbe was previously a coach at IMG Academy before taking his previous job with the Rangers in December 2018. In addition to his managerial duties, Crabbe will also be an assisting hitting coordinator in the minor league system.

Jonathan Johnston, who managed Low-A Bradenton to a 71-48 record and a Southeast League title in 2021, earning Low-A Southeast League Manager of the Year honors along the way, will remain with the Marauders.

Low-A Bradenton was one of the youngest teams in the league but second in most major offensive categories. The Marauders rode a young, talented pitching staff to a sweep of the Tampa Tarpons in the Low-A Southeast League championship series.

A formal announcement involving coaching hires — which have been trickling out since late December — is expected soon, perhaps as soon as later Wednesday or Thursday.

Another on the list will be Chad Noble as a catching coordinator, a position director of coaching and player development John Baker said back in November would be an offseason priority for the organization.

Noble, 33, has spent the past eight seasons as the Cubs’ major league bullpen catcher. The Northwestern product was a 37th-round draft pick of the Cubs in 2010 and played four seasons in the organization, until 2013.

Carroll leaves

In addition to Joel Hanrahan, a prominent coach who chose to leave the Pirates to pursue other opportunities, they also lost respected infield instructor Jamey Carroll, who has apparently re-signed.

Carroll, 47, who recently completed his seventh season with the Pirates, was most recently titled special assistant in baseball operations and defensive coordinator. He played 1,275 MLB games for seven different teams, hitting .272.

Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.

First Published: January 5, 2022, 4:55 p.m.

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05/04/21 Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski / Curve manager Miguel Perez talks with home plate umpire Dane Poncsak during a meeting with Bowie manager Buck Britton at the plate prior to Tuesday's home opener at PNG Field in Altoona.  (Patrick Waksmunski/Mirror)
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