Erlichman, Ibach headline Rays' front office promotions 

ST. PETERSBURG -- The Rays announced a series of promotions, new hires and title changes across their business and baseball operations departments and Major League staff on Wednesday, including the promotion of Kevin Ibach to assistant general manager.

After spending last year as the Rays’ vice president of player personnel, Ibach was elevated to the role of vice president of baseball operations and assistant GM. That title is now shared by Carlos Rodriguez, Chanda Lawdermilk, Will Cousins and Ibach. Tampa Bay has not named a general manager since Peter Bendix left to run Miami’s front office, leaving those four VP/AGMs as the club’s top baseball operations officials under president of baseball operations Erik Neander.

Ibach will remain focused on player development, pro personnel and pro scouting, according to the club’s announcement, with strategy and daily oversight of the department added to his duties. Ibach joined the Rays as a pro scout in October 2012, was promoted to pro scouting director in November ’15 and became senior director of pro personnel and pro scouting in January '20.

Additionally, two prominent members of the Rays’ staff are transitioning into new roles away from the dugout: Jonathan Erlichman and Justin Su’a.

Erlichman, formerly the club’s process and analytics coach who played a key role on manager Kevin Cash’s staff, is moving back to the front office to serve as vice president of process and analytics. In his new role, the club said, Erlichman will “work across departments to accelerate projects of high impact and conduct research related to player wellness.

Su’a, who had been the Rays’ head of mental performance, will now serve as a performance development specialist, focusing on staff initiatives and projects outside of the clubhouse. His previous role included work as the mental performance coach for the Major League club, with many players often crediting him for his role in their development and improvement.

Kris Goodman will assume mental performance duties as the new Major League process and development coach. He joined Tampa Bay’s Minor League staff in a similar role in 2020 after playing in the Marlins system.

Elsewhere in the baseball operations group, Joesph Myers was promoted from director to senior director of baseball performance science; Ryan Bristow was elevated from assistant director to director of pro personnel and pro scouting, leading both departments; and Bobby Kinne will transition from advance scouting work as Major League operations coordinator to pitching strategist, working alongside pitching coach Kyle Snyder and bullpen coach Jorge Moncada and assisting with strategy during games.

Bryan King, formerly the Major League rehab strength and conditioning coach, will take over as head Major League strength and conditioning coach. Trung Cao will move into the role of Major League strength and conditioning coordinator. Additionally, Katie Mooradian -- who started with the Rays as an MLB fellow in January 2022 -- will help manage the advance scouting team at home and on the road as an assistant, advance scouting and Major League operations.

The Rays changed a pair of longtime business operations officials’ titles, with Jenn Tran now the chief people and community officer, while Bill Wiener Jr. becomes the chief administrative officer. Both have been with the organization for 28 years.

After serving as head groundskeeper for 23 years, Dan Moeller is joining the team responsible for the design and build of a new ballpark in the role of director of special projects and field operations. Mike Deubel will take over as head groundskeeper after 19 years as assistant. Luis Cuccati will join the Rays as director of administration, focused on stadium operations as well as the new ballpark and the Dominican facility, after five years in business development and strategy with the Tampa Bay Rowdies.

Elvis Martinez, who joined the Rays last year as communications manager, was promoted to director of communications and player relations. Miguel Velez joined the Rays as the director of fan experience, Yanna Pantelis was hired as director of marketing, and Brennan DiChiara was brought on as senior director of strategy and analytics.