North Carolina State University Athletics
Indians Name Former Pack Player Director of Scouting
10/13/1999 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
CLEVELAND, Ohio (Oct. 12) -- The 1995-99 American League Central Division Champion Cleveland Indians named N.C. State graduate John Mirabelli Director of Scouting. Mirabelli replaces Josh Byrnes, who left the organization to become Assistant General Manager with the Colorado Rockies.
Mirabelli, 39, played for the Wolfpack from 1979-82 and was pitching coach and recruiting coordinator from 1986-90.
The last two seasons he has been the national crosschecker in the Detroit Tigers Scouting Department. Prior to becoming the national crosschecker he spent the 1997 season as the southeast supervisor for the Tigers and before that was an area scout with Detroit from 1990-96. Detroit's 1997 and '98 first-round picks (RHP Matt Anderson, RHP Jeff Weaver) each made it to the big leagues in their first professional seasons and he was responsible for '96 first-round selection of RHP Seth Greisinger. As an area scout in 1993 he signed Detroit's sixth-round pick RHP Brian Moehler.
Mirabelli played his collegiate ball at North Carolina State University and played professionally in Italy for two seasons in 1983-84 before returning to his alma mater , spending six seasons from 1985-90 as the pitching coach/recruiting coordinator with the Wolfpack before becoming an area scout with the Tigers after the 1990 draft.
In addition to the Mirabelli hiring, the Indians have elevated JESSE FLORES & JERRY JORDAN to national crosscheckers. Flores has spent the last six seasons as the West Coast supervisor & Jordan the last six as the East Coast supervisor. Flores and Jordan replace BILL SCHMIDT, who also left the organization to join the Colorado Rockies.
"We are very pleased to bring John Mirabelli into our organization. He has tremendous leadership and communication skills and has an excellent track record as a talent evaluator," said Cleveland Indians Vice President of Baseball Operations/Assistant General Manager MARK SHAPIRO. "Jesse Flores and Jerry Jordan have a keen eye for talent and have been very loyal to the Indians organization over the last six seasons and are very deserving of this promotion."
