A's announce player development staff for 2024

The Oakland A's have announced their player development staff for the upcoming 2024 season, and there aren't very many changes to the team that has been in place in recent years. 

One interesting addition will be Mike McFerran, who is joining the A's as the team's pitching performance coach. He spent the last three years at Wake Forest as the school's pitching lab coordinator and director of player development. Interestingly, McFerran was at Wake Forest at the same time as 2021 draftee Ryan Cusick, who was traded to the A's in the Matt Olson deal. Cusick is a former first-round pick that went No. 24 overall. The 6-foot-6 right-hander held a 4.77 ERA in 94 ^1/3 Double-A innings in 2023. 

The only other newcomer to the organization is Grace Boyce, who will join the A's as the player development analyst after spending the 2023 season as a baseball analytics associate with the Detroit Tigers. 

Down on the farm, Fran Riordan will continue to manage the Las Vegas Aviators, making this his seventh season with the Triple-A club. Down in Double-A, with the promotion of Bobby Crosby to the big-league coaching staff, Gregorio Petit will take over managerial duties in Midland after leading the Stockton Ports last season. 

Javier Godard will take over as the manager of the Ports for 2024 after serving as the hitting coach in Midland last year. Tim Esmay will be taking on managing the Arizona Athletics in the Rookie ball after working as the team's hitting coach last season. 

The A's first spring training game will be on February 24 at 12:05 PST against the Colorado Rockies. Pitchers and catchers are set to report to camp on Wednesday, February 14, so just a day from now, and the first full squad workout will be held on Monday, February 19. 

March 8 and 9 will be two dates to keep in mind, because that is when the A's will play the Milwaukee Brewers in Las Vegas as part of the team's recurring big league weekend. The Nevada Independent has reported that weekend as the likely target date for when the A's will unveil the long-awaited renderings for their proposed ballpark.