If they say the NFL is a copycat league, then the MLB is a “if you can’t beat them, hire their coaches and decision makers” league. Or something like that. For the last several years, the Indians have built their own Bill Belichick GM/front office tree. This year was no different with the Indians making it all the way to the World Series. With several key front office members being hired elsewhere or promoted within, the Indians announced a few new roles for 2017.
Eric Binder was promoted from Assistant Director of Player Development to Director of Baseball Operations. Binder pitched in the Cardinals minor league system in 2011 and in the Independent Leagues in 2012. Paul Gillispie was promoted from Director of Pro Scouting to Director of International Scouting. Gillispie was an outfielder for the University of Virginia from 2001 through 2004 and has been with the Indians since 2006. Victor Wang was promoted from Assistant Director of Pro Scouting to Director of Pro Scouting. Wang has been with the Indians since 2009 and was previously a writer at the Hardball Times.
The last, but possibly most notable hire for the Indians is James Harris, who is the new Director of Player Development. He takes over for Carter Hawkins, who was promoted to that position last year when Mark Shapiro took Ross Atkins to Toronto to be the GM. Hawkins is the new Assistant GM, taking over Derek Falvey’s role when Minnesota hired him to be their team President.
Harris was not an internal promotion, which makes him interesting from the standpoint that it’s rare the Indians don’t have an internal candidate fill any role. They have hired from the outside to fill roles before, but usually prefer to promote from within. Harris instead came from the Pittsburgh Pirates where he worked for one year after coming over from the University of Oregon’s football team and Philadelphia Eagles.
No, the Indians aren’t trying to be the Browns and hire experts from other sports. No team needs to emulate anything the Browns do in any sport. Harris started with Oregon football with Chip Kelly as a dietitian. He wound up as the Chief of Staff for the team and served as a liaison or “go-between” for players and coaches.
Kelly hired Harris away from Oregon to work with player performance and coaching. He focused on the same type duties as he did at Oregon in nutrition and strength training as well as a buffer for coaches and players. When Kelly left, Harris was hired away by the Pirates. Pirates GM Neal Huntington, a former Indians assistant GM said this of Harris at the time of his hire:
“James was a guy that always fascinated us,” Huntington said. “He had a large role with the Eagles on their performance team. He’s also an avid learner. He loves to study leadership and driving culture.”
It’s noteworthy that Harris was a football player at the University of Nebraska as a walk-on and graduated with a masters in nutrition and health sciences. He became their Coordinator of Sports Nutrition. He believes he’s good at handling the “intangibles.”
There’s certainly a lot to read about Harris and that he’s not a “baseball guy” makes him even more fascinating. The two previous directors of player development, Atkins and Hawkins, played in the pros or college and worked their way up in the Indians front office. Harris might give the Indians a unique perspective on player development at the minor league level in the way of nutrition and health science. It’s possible the next untapped territory in baseball information might be biometrics. Harris’ background of building positive culture and being able to serve as a trusted communicator between players and coaches might help the Indians help players tap into their full potential on and off the field.
The Harris hire is a bit outside the box, but his background and experience could help the Indians venture into an area of development that could give them an edge and a step forward in the next wave of information.
It’s also worth noting the Indians hires represent a healthy dose of diversity. The MLB recently let go of Korn Ferry, a research firm that was supposed to help them hire quality minority candidates for front office roles in the sport that had seen very similar profiles hired. It was actually after Falvey was hired by the Twins that they let Korn Ferry go.
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