TORONTO – Andrew Tinnish is reuniting with Alex Anthopoulos in the Atlanta Braves front office, the second Toronto Blue Jays executive to depart for the National League East club in recent months.
The 41-year-old born in Hamilton and raised in Nepean, Ont., will serve as vice-president of amateur and international scouting while Perry Minasian, the Blue Jays’ former pro scouting director who joined the Braves in September as director of player personnel, was promoted to vice-president of baseball operations and assistant general manager, the club announced Monday evening.
Tinnish was promoted to amateur scouting director soon after Anthopoulos took over as Blue Jays GM in September 2009 – selecting Marcus Stroman, Aaron Sanchez, Noah Syndergaard, Kevin Pillar, Daniel Norris, Anthony Alford and Dalton Pompey, among others – and was later promoted to assistant general manager.
Over the past two years under CEO and president Mark Shapiro and GM Ross Atkins, Tinnish oversaw international scouting and was among the handful of team executives and scouts to get multiple looks at Shohei Ohtani this summer.
His departure isn’t expected to hamper the Blue Jays’ pursuit of the Japanese sensation or other international operations as their plans are already in place.
Anthopoulos took over as Braves GM earlier this month after John Coppolella resigned due to violations of international signing and draft rules. Tinnish and Minasian were part of Anthopoulos’s most trusted inner circle during their time together with the Blue Jays.
Minasian had been in charge of pro scouting with the Blue Jays, a role Ryan Mittleman moved into this season.
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