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Sports briefs
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Pirates hire hitting coach
The Pittsburgh Pirates have hired former Milwaukee assistant Andy Haines as hitting coach.
Haines replaces Rick Eckstein, who was fired in August. Haines spent the last three seasons as the hitting coach in Milwaukee before being let go in October.
Haines joins one of the worst offensive teams in the major leagues. The Pirates finished last in the majors in runs, home runs and slugging percentage in 2021 and in the bottom six in batting average and on-base plus slugging on their way to a third straight last-place finish in the NL Central.
Haines was the manager of the Frontier League’s Windy City Thunderbolts when they beat the Washington Wild Things in the 2007 championship series.
The Pirates also announced Mike Rabelo will be the third base coach. Rabelo was already serving as field coordinator. He takes over for Joey Cora, who was dismissed in October.
Radley Haddad, a former assistant with the New York Yankees, is joining the Pirates as game planning and strategy coach. Haddad, 31, spent the last five years as a coaching assistant and bullpen catcher with New York.
The rest of the Pittsburgh coaching and support staff from 2021 will remain in place next season.
WVU’s Brown to skip bowl
West Virginia running back Leddie Brown says he’ll skip the Mountaineers’ bowl game to focus on preparations for the NFL draft.
Brown announced his decision Thursday on Twitter.
Brown surpassed 1,000 yards in back-to-back seasons. He was sixth in the Big 12 this season with 1,065 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns. He also caught 36 passes for 217 yards and one score.
West Virginia (6-6) will meet Minnesota (8-4) in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl Dec. 28 in Phoenix.
In the NFL
Browns backup quarterback Case Keenum, who was slotted to start Saturday with Baker Mayfield sidelined after testing positive with COVID-19, has also tested positive for the virus, a person familiar with the situation told the Associated Press.
Keenum’s positive result came after he practiced on Thursday, said the person who spoke on condition of anonymity because the team may have more confirmed cases coming.
Shortly after Keenum’s positive test was confirmed, Mayfield went on Twitter to criticize the league.
With Keenum and Mayfield out, third-string quarterback Nick Mullens is slated to make his first start since last season for San Francisco.