Like you, Randy Winn is taking on a major role without a lot of front-office experience. He’s the VP of player development, so he’s involved in the development of Bryce Eldridge and the other prospects coming up. What are your expectations for Randy?
I’ve picked up pretty quickly just how massive player development is, how many staff members, coaches, players, and to have a guy with Randy’s pedigree willing to dive in headfirst, to me, was just a no-brainer to bring him on. Randy and I have talked about streamlining minor leaguers to the major leagues, obviously a big job that takes a lot of effort, a lot of planning, having everyone on the same page. Our hope is that when we do call upon minor leaguers, when they get to the big leagues, they will have experienced throughout their time in the system the fundamentals we believe in.
When you hire people, or when anyone in your department makes hires, how does diversity play a role?
It’s always going to be considered in our hiring process. It’s important to us, it’s part of our culture, and it’s always great to have different perspectives from people coming from different walks of life.
You have a long list of former players coming to spring training to lend their hand, including from the championship era but also previous eras. How can that help?
It’s nice that Bob [Melvin] and I are very aligned with that. Just recently, having Yusmeiro Petit and Dave Righetti in camp, I got to see firsthand Bob letting these guys work. You’ve got to give credit to (pitching coaches) J.P. Martinez and Garvin Alston as well. There’s no ego involved, and they appreciate the experience that Rags and Petit have in the game. I think a part of becoming a big leaguer is being able to hear different perspectives and opinions and filter those perspectives and opinions and apply them to your game and get the most out of yourself.
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