The Cubs announced their 2019 minor-league coaching staffs among a host of other moves Wednesday.
Marty Pevey (Triple-A Iowa) and Mark Johnson (Double-A Tennessee) return as managers of the Cubs' top two teams in the farm system. There was a swap at the lower levels where Buddy Bailey is now at the helm of Single-A South Bend after three years with Myrtle Beach while Jimmy Gonzalez takes over in Myrtle Beach after four years with Single-A South Bend. Steven Lerud is still the manager for short-season Class-A Eugene.
Pevey's staff retained its pitching coach (Rod Nichols) and hitting coach (Desi Wilson) while adding a new hitting coach in Keoni De Renne. Johnson will once again work with pitching coach Terry Clark but has a new hitting coach in Chad Allen.
Gonzalez brought Brian Lawrence (pitching coach) and Ricardo Medina (hitting coach) with him from South Bend to Myrtle Beach. Jamie Vermilyea will serve as Bailey's pitching coach and Paul McAnulty retains his spot as hitting coach with South Bend.
The Cubs also officially filled Tommy Hottovy's position as run prevention coordinator by hiring Brad Mills, a 33-year-old who made 21 appearances (14 starts) in the big leagues for the Blue Jays, Angels and A's from 2009-15. Nate Halm will still serve as the run production coordinator.
Among a bunch of moves on the minor league coordinator front, Jeremy Farrell was promoted to Cubs' minor league field coordinator after serving as the organization's infield coordinator last year and minor-league hitting coach in 2016-17. Farrell is the brother of former Cubs pitcher Luke (who threw 31.1 innings for the team in 2018) and son of former Red Sox manager John Farrell. His brother, Shane, also works as a regional supervisor in the Cubs amateur scouting department.
Brendan Sagara will retain his role as the minor league pitching coordinator while Chris Valaika was promoted to the team's minor-league hitting coordinator. Valaika played with the Cubs in 2014, appearing in 44 games for the rebuilding team. He was also teammates with a slew of current Cubs players - including Javy Baez and Kris Bryant - with Triple-A Iowa in 2014-15.
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Josh Lifrak returns as the director of the organization's mental skills program and John Baker will return for his fourth season as a mental skills coordinator under Lifrak.
Here are the rest of the Cubs minor league coordinators:
Jonthan Mota - infield
Doug Dascenzo - outfield/baserunning
Dave Keller - Latin America field coordinator
Mike Mason - assistant pitching
Carlos Chantres - assistant pitching
Tom Beyers - assistant hitting
Chuck Baugman - head athletic training
Doug Jarrow - strength/conditioning
Jon Fierro - rehab
Ron Villone - rehab (pitching)
Daivd Da Silva - mental skills
Ray Fuentes - mental skills