Montgomery to VP of Scouting, Minasian to special advisor role, Johnson now Scouting Director

[JDBrewCrew]

Montgomery listed as "Vice President - Amateur Scouting / Special Assistant to the G.M." Hope the tweet below means another promotion rather than him leaving.

 

‏@keithlaw

Also heard Brewers' assistant scouting director (and developer/systems architect) Tod Johnson may be their new amateur scouting director

[Greenleaf1]

Everyone seems to be happy with our drafts lately. Anything to keep the guys responsible happy and with the organization sounds good to me.

[JDBrewCrew]

Adam McCalvy ‏@AdamMcCalvy 7h7 hours ago Arlington, TX

Some Brewers FO news coming Wednesday, incl. amended roles for amateur scouting director Ray Montgomery, pro scouting director Zack Minasian

[JDBrewCrew]

Adam McCalvy ‏@AdamMcCalvy 23s23 seconds ago

Ray Montgomery, who ran last two Brewers drafts, is now VP of scouting. Pro scouting director Zack Minasian moved to special advisor role.

 

Adam McCalvy ‏@AdamMcCalvy 3m3 minutes ago

Changes in Brewers scouting department: Tod Johnson promoted to amateur scouting director. Worked for Microsoft & HP before joining Crew.

 

More background below.

http://www.brewcrewball.com/2016/9/26/13066110/brewers-reportedly-may-be-moving-ray-montgomery-tod-johnson-into-new-front-office-roles

[JDBrewCrew]

Tom ‏@Haudricourt 24s25 seconds ago

Stearns said Ray Montgomery will spend more time in the office now as he also oversees the pro scouting.

 

Tom ‏@Haudricourt 6s6 seconds ago

Stearns said there is still some fine tuning to come in the pro scouting department as to administrative duties, etc.

 

Tom ‏@Haudricourt 1m1 minute ago

#Brewers GM David Stearns said he interviewed total of seven candidates — internal and external — before selecting Tod Johnson.

 

Tom ‏@Haudricourt 13s13 seconds ago

Stearns said he was pleased through reorganization of scouting department that promoting from within became the thing to do.

 

Tom ‏@Haudricourt 33s33 seconds ago

A correction on my part — Ray Montgomery is not overseeing #Brewers pro scouting dept. Is going to serve as lead evaluator of all players.

 

Tom ‏@Haudricourt 3m3 minutes ago

Montgomery’s new role, as explained to me by Stearns, will free him of administrative duties and focus strictly on player evaluation.

 

Tom ‏@Haudricourt 2m2 minutes ago

This is a nod to Ray Montgomery’s skills in player evaluation, which is how he rose to VP of Amateur Scouting to begin with.

[JDBrewCrew]

Tom ‏@Haudricourt 44s44 seconds ago

Just to be clear, Tod Johnson will now run the #Brewers drafts, something Ray Montgomery did before taking on this lead evaluator role.

[Austin Tatious]

Interesting. Johnson has a software, management, and stats background. In the end, he has actual baseball scouts feeding him information. Baseball evaluation has to be part of the equation, obviously.

 

It's early to judge Montgomery. He seemed to be an improvement over Bruce Seid (RIP) but time will tell. I like that he went after upside rather than pedestrian guys with lower ceilings who performed now. But we need time to tell whether his draftees fare better than those from prior years, inasmuch as prior drafts were an unabashed disaster.

 

I'd like to know what's really going on behind the scenes here. You'd think Montgomery needed more time on draft evaluations, but maybe Stearns is looking for something more sympatico with his philosophies.

[CheezWizHed]

Interesting. Johnson has a software, management, and stats background.

 

Blast! I knew I should've applied...

[And That]

Here's the full McCalvy article.

[balsamlaker]

Montgomery is obviously valued by the team, but I don't think we should be surprised that Johnson (who will now be running the drafts) is a pure analytics guy. Having just re-read Moneyball, I strike the team under Sterns leadership is going to continue to move in that direction, so Johnson makes a great deal of sense.

[homer]

Johnson did go to scout school so he's not oblivious to that side of things.

[jerichoholicninja]

So the big time draft guy we hired a couple years ago to fix our crappy drafting was replaced after two drafts? Seems weird.

[1992casey]

I'd submit that he was rewarded.

[jerichoholicninja]

I'd submit that he was rewarded.

 

I guess but does that really help the organization? He's no longer working with amateur scouting and the draft which were his strengths and something we need to have our tops guys working on.

 

The husband of one of my wife's friends was talking about his recent promotion a couple years ago. He said, "I was so good at being an engineer they gave me a promotion and are paying me more money to not be an engineer anymore." I mean I get it but I don't get why people who are very good at their jobs gets promoted to positions where they aren't doing what they are good at anymore. Seems counterproductive to me.

[homer]

I'd submit that he was rewarded.

 

I guess but does that really help the organization? He's no longer working with amateur scouting and the draft which were his strengths and something we need to have our tops guys working on.

 

The husband of one of my wife's friends was talking about his recent promotion a couple years ago. He said, "I was so good at being an engineer they gave me a promotion and are paying me more money to not be an engineer anymore." I mean I get it but I don't get why people who are very good at their jobs gets promoted to positions where they aren't doing what they are good at anymore. Seems counterproductive to me.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_principle

[Point Beer Is Best]

I'd submit that he was rewarded.

 

I guess but does that really help the organization? He's no longer working with amateur scouting and the draft which were his strengths and something we need to have our tops guys working on.

 

The husband of one of my wife's friends was talking about his recent promotion a couple years ago. He said, "I was so good at being an engineer they gave me a promotion and are paying me more money to not be an engineer anymore." I mean I get it but I don't get why people who are very good at their jobs gets promoted to positions where they aren't doing what they are good at anymore. Seems counterproductive to me.

 

One of Tom's tweets literally addresses this concern.

 

Tom ‏@Haudricourt 3m3 minutes ago

Montgomery’s new role, as explained to me by Stearns, will free him of administrative duties and focus strictly on player evaluation.

 

They recognize his strong suit is player evaluation, so they want him to do more of it. They are giving him a promotion, but rather than pile on more administrative work they are expanding the scope of the players for him to evaluate.

[Jenkins5]

Exactly, really in his new role, he has final say on scouting decisions. He will no longer have to worry about all the scouts & where to send them anymore. You have an amazing scout, let him just scout and help make final decisions for both draft & pro side. Johnson is head guy. He will send scouts places, work on the lists with scouts & cross checkers, and get board ready.... List & players will be run by Montgomery to help finalize things.

[Jenkins5]

Both Ray & Zack are rising front office stars who are going to get plenty of GM calls in the coming years. Brewers are trying to keep them around and move them up their ladder.