01/16/2008 2:23 PM ET

Pirates hire Donnelly as player development advisor

The Pittsburgh Pirates have added Rich Donnelly to their Player Development staff. The announcment was made by Kyle Stark, the club's Director of Player Development.

Donnelly, 61, will serve as an experienced resource for the staff while evaluating the entire system. He will be with the club during Spring Training and will spend the 2008 season as a roving coordinator among all the Minor League affiliates.

Donnelly returns to the Pirates for the first time since serving the club as a Major League coach for 11 seasons; as the Bullpen Coach from 1986-1991 and as the Third Base Coach from 1992-96. A former left-handed hitting catcher, Donnelly signed with the Minnesota Twins in 1967. After four Minor League seasons as a player, he embarked on a 10-year managerial career in 1972, winning the Western Carolinas League championship with Gastonia in 1974. Rich's last managerial stop was with Denver in 1982.

Prior to joining Jim Leyland's staff in 1986, Donnelly was a Major League coach with Texas in 1980 and again from 1983-85. He also worked as a Third Base Coach for Florida (1997-98), Colorado (1999-2002), Milwaukee (2003-05) and the Los Angeles Dodgers (2006-07).

Rich has spent a total of 26 seasons as a coach in the Major Leagues and a total of 41 years in the game of baseball.

Reprinted from the official site of the Pittsburgh Pirates

http://pittsburgh.pirates.mlb.com/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20080116&content_id=2347390&vkey=pr_pit&fext=.jsp&c_id=pit