Phillies promote inner-circle decision maker Bryan Minniti to assistant GM, add scouts

Bryan Minniti, who became a part of the Phillies' inner circle of decision makers last season, was named assistant general manager Friday as the team made a series of promotions and hires within the front office.

Minniti will oversee "player development, amateur and international scouting," the team said. Minniti, 37, was hired last winter as a special assistant to general manager Matt Klentak. Minniti participated in the search that led to Gabe Kapler being hired as manager. He is the team's third assistant general manager, along with Ned Rice and Scott Proefrock.

Chris Cashman, who has worked for the club as an intern and in various scouting and analyst capacities, was promoted to player procurement manager. Mike Calitri, who was a pro scout with the Cleveland Indians, was hired as an advance scouting manager, a position that will report to Kapler and serve as an aide to the big-league coaching staff.

Dana Parks, a former St. Joseph's softball player, was hired as a player development coordinator. She was a baseball operations assistant for the Tampa Bay Rays last season. Corrine Landrey, a former Phillies blogger and writer at FanGraphs, was promoted to an analyst in the team's baseball research and development department. She interned for the team in 2017.

The Phillies added a horde of pro scouts, amateur scouts and international scouts. Mike Koplove, the former major-league reliever and Chestnut Hill Academy graduate, was named a special assignment scout. Erick Dalton and Todd Donovan were hired from Washington and Seattle, respectively, to be pro scouts with the Phillies.

On the amateur side, Greg Schilz was promoted to assistant director, amateur scouting and Brad Holland was promoted to southwest regional supervisor.  Buddy Hernandez (southeast regional supervisor), Stewart Smothers (northeast regional supervisor), Jeff Zona Jr. (area scout), Connor Betbeze (area scout), Chris Duffy (area scout) and Kellan McKeon (area scout) were all hired. Betbeze played collegiate baseball at Penn.

Jesús Méndez was promoted to international coordinator and Carlos Salas was promoted to Latin American coordinator.  The team hired Oneri Fleita from the Detroit Tigers to be their scouting supervisor in Mexico. They hired 10 scouts, some of whom work as contractors, in Latin America. They added a scout in Japan, Isao O'Jimi, and added Derrick Chung as an international pro scout. Chung was in the clubhouse last season as Hyun Soo Kim's interpreter.

Frank Coppenbarger, who had been the club's equipment manager and traveling secretary for almost three decades, was named a special assistant for ballpark projects. Keith Rudolf was hired as the team's full-time chef.