Dodgers promote Brandon Gomes to director of player development

LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers on Friday announced the promotion of Brandon Gomes to director of player development, replacing Gabe Kapler, who left to become the Phillies manager on Oct. 30.

Gomes was hired by the Dodgers in September 2016 as a pitching coordinator, performance, a role he explained to David Laurila of FanGraphs in January:

“They did it a little bit last year, as well, so it’s about having the bandwidth to move it forward with all of the pitchers. The biggest thing is to understand the characteristics. It might be, ‘Hey, this guy has elite carry, so we want to look at pitching in this part of the zone.’ Or maybe it’s, ‘This is a power-sinker guy, so we want this,’ or, ‘He has an above-average slider, so he should use it more than he’s currently using it.’ Those kind of avenues. Nothing overly new, but we’re implementing it in a slightly different way.

“We’re using data. From my perspective, it is easier to digest a suggestion if there’s hard data there. It’s more than strictly an opinion. If the eyes and the data match up, that’s even better. It’s further confirmation of, ‘We’re doing the right thing, or this isn’t working, maybe we should change course here.’”

Gomes, 33, was pitching as recently as 2016, appearing in 19 games for Triple-A Iowa in the Cubs system. The right-hander pitched five seasons in the majors (2011-15), all with the Rays, and was acquired by Tampa Bay when Andrew Friedman was their general manager.

Gomes graduated from Tulane in 2007 with a double major in finance and legal studies. In an interview in November 2016 with Greg Sullivan of the Herald News in Massachussets, Gomes described his then role with the Dodgers:

“I combine the analytical stuff with my experience,” Gomes said. “I try to encompass both sides of the game. There’s so much information to be had. Sometimes we get lost with being able to relay it to players. That’s kind of my role.”

During the season, he will visit the Dodgers minor league affiliates, with information and plans on his hard drive.

“This is where the game is headed,” he said.

Friedman said in November that the club also plans to hire as assistant director of player development to replace Jeremy Zoll, who left to join the Twins in October.

The Dodgers on Friday also officially announced the hiring of Ron Porterfield as director of player health, a move first reported four weeks ago. Porterfield, the longtime Rays trainer, will work out of the team facilities in Glendale, Ariz, and “provide the medical department with assistance and oversight at both the major and minor league levels.”