The Pittsburgh Pirates have made a change on their coaching staff after assistant pitching coach Thomas Whitsett resigned for personal reasons.
Cibney Bello, who shared pitching coach duties with Drew Benes at Triple-A Indianapolis the past two seasons, was promoted to the major league staff as the assistant pitching coach.
The 43-year-old Bello, a native of Venezuela, also worked at the club’s Dominican Republic baseball academy in the offseason. Prior to joining the Pirates with Indianapolis, he spent eight seasons in the Minnesota Twins organization, including three years as pitching coach with Triple-A St. Paul. Bello began his coaching career in 2011 with the Seattle Mariners in the Arizona League and moved up to Single-A Clinton from 2014-15 before leaving for the Twins.
As a right-handed pitcher, Bello signed with Seattle in 2000 and had a 21-26 career record with a 5.18 ERA in eight minor league seasons, rising to High-A in 2006-07. He also played in the independent Can-Am and Golden Baseball Leagues from 2008-10.
Whitsett, 37, was hired by the Pirates in December. He joined new pitching coach Bill Murphy from the Houston Astros, where Whitsett was pitching coach at Triple-A Sugar Land last season after serving as minor league pitching coordinator in 2023. Murphy and Whitsett replaced Oscar Marin and Brent Strom.