The Los Angeles Dodgers continue to assemble one of the most progressive front offices in baseball.
Former big leaguer and MLB analyst Gabe Kapler was named director of player development Friday, while the club also announced the hiring of Billy Gasparino as director of amateur scouting.
The pair join a young front office led by president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and newly-appointed general manager Farhan Zaidi. Los Angeles also named Josh Byrnes its senior vice president of baseball operations.
Kapler spent 12 seasons in the league, including a minor-league stint with the Dodgers in 2011, before quickly establishing himself as one of the most insightful analysts in the game.
The 39-year-old brings with him playing experience and a willingness to evaluate players using traditional and new-school methods. Those tools figure to serve him well in an organization that appears to be shifting to more statistics-based analysis.
Kapler touched on some of that Friday in a goodbye letter to FOX Sports:
Clubhouse chemistry may not be quantifiable, but it is certainly palpable at its most potent. Our team at FOX Sports is a savory blend of innovative and traditional, tolerant and pressing, studious and fun. I was proud to call the members of this crew my teammates. I learned valuable lessons from each of them.
As I move on to work with the Los Angeles Dodgers organization, I say farewell to a special group of people. In baseball, clubhouse chemistry matters. Apparently, it does in media too.
Gasparino, 37, served under Byrnes the last four seasons in San Diego, assisting the club with its scouting efforts in the past two drafts.
