When the Phillies fired Assistant General Manager Marti Wolever, the team was letting go of a long-term employee who had overseen many Phillies drafts. Every draft from 2002 through 2014 was overseen by Wolever. In 2015, the Phillies draft will be overseen by Johnny Almaraz, who served as the Braves director of international scouting since 2008.
MLB.com's Todd Zolecki had a response from Phillies Assistant General Manager Benny Looper:
“We couldn’t be happier to add someone of Johnny’s caliber to our baseball operations staff,” Phillies assistant general manager Benny Looper said in a statement. “He has established a reputation for being able to identify future Major League talent and brings a great deal of experience to the Phillies.”
Almaraz is 49 years old and Zolecki notes gets credit for the signings of both Braves pitcher Julio Teheran and Braves catching prospect Christian Bethancourt. As a scout for the Reds, Zolecki notes, Almaraez signed Johnny Cueto and Adam Dunn.
With the title of "Amateur Scouting Director", Almaraz will not hold the assistant general manager title that was held by Woelever.
