Neal Alden Huntington was born on February 4,1969 and is an American former General Manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball and currently works in the front office of the Cleveland Guardians as a special assistant to baseball projects.
14 Facts About Neal Huntington
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At Amherst, Neal Huntington played baseball for four years; he was named a Division III second-team All-American first baseman and first-team All New England first baseman after his senior season.
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Neal Huntington earned a Master's Degree in sport management from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
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Neal Huntington spent 16 seasons in professional baseball prior to joining the Pirates.
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Neal Huntington became assistant director of player development with the Montreal Expos in 1995.
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Neal Huntington later moved to the Cleveland Indians, by whom he was employed for 10 seasons, serving first as the assistant director of Minor League operations before becoming director of player development, assistant general manager, and finally special assistant to the general manager.
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On November 2,2007, Neal Huntington made clear that he was going to utilize some sabermetric techniques of player evaluation:.
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Second, the marketability of many of these players had been hampered in the off-season because of their 2007 performance, and Neal Huntington did not want to trade players at a price that was lower than what he considered their true value.
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Third, although Neal Huntington did seek an immediate improvement of the team's competitiveness, he did not want to give up players who could contribute to the team's performance over the next three or four years simply to achieve a one-year increase in wins.
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Neal Huntington continued the rebuilding during the 2009 season by trading star outfielder Nate McLouth to the Atlanta Braves on June 3 for outfielder Gorkys Hernandez and pitchers Jeff Locke and Charlie Morton.
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Later that day, Neal Huntington sent all-star second baseman Freddy Sanchez to the San Francisco Giants for highly regarded pitching prospect Tim Alderson.
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Neal Huntington was eventually moved to the bullpen and replaced in the rotation by prospects Jeff Locke and Kyle McPherson.
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Neal Huntington received a 3-year contract extension on Saturday April 5,2014 which will keep him through the 2017 season.
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Clint Hurdle was fired before the final game of the season, and Neal Huntington initially led efforts to find his replacement.