Dan Evans (baseball)

Daniel P. Evans (born January 27, 1960 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American Major League Baseball (MLB) executive and baseball expert. Considered a pioneer in the use of technology for baseball evaluation, Evans is a top scout for the Toronto Blue Jays, mentor for the Sports Management Worldwide "Baseball GM and Scouting" course, member of the Baseball Prospectus Advisory Board, serves on the Board of Directors for the SABR Rocky Mountain Chapter, and is President/CEO of Evans Baseball Consulting. Evans evaluates talent all over the world for the Blue Jays, and is responsible for their Pacific Rim Operations.

He was Commissioner of the Northern League of Professional Baseball in 2013. In addition, Evans authored a column "108 Stitches" for Baseball Prospectus until assuming his current role with the Blue Jays. Evans, a Chicago native, was the President and CEO of Paragon Sports International and West Coast Sports Management, both baseball representation firms. He has been in baseball his whole career, starting as an intern with the Chicago White Sox while a junior at DePaul University.

Evans was the Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers from 2001 to 2004, rebuilt the Dodgers' entire baseball organization after it had sunk to a rating of 28th within MLB as he inherited the team and was the primary architect of the Dodgers' 2004 West Division champions, their first playoff club in eight years. Among his draftees were All-Star outfielder Matt Kemp and catcher Russell Martin. Within two years, the Dodgers set franchise records for pitching and defense, and the organization elevated its ranking to 2nd overall. While Dodgers' GM, Evans promoted the first Taiwanese player (Chin-Feng Chen) to the Major Leagues, and three of the first four Taiwanese big leaguers have direct ties to Evans.

He has now worked in decision-making roles for five MLB organizations (Chicago White Sox, Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers, Seattle Mariners, and Toronto Blue Jays). He worked his way to the top after his White Sox internship, eventually getting promoted to Assistant General Manager/Director of Baseball Operations in Chicago.^[1] After almost 20 years, Evans resigned from the White Sox after their 2000 Central Division Championship season, and after a few months of working for the Chicago Cubs, he landed a job as a Senior Advisor with the Los Angeles Dodgers under Chairman Bob Daly and was eventually promoted to Dodgers' General Manager. Proficient in social media, Evans' Twitter account, @DanEvans108, was honored as a "Top 100 Must-Follow Sports Business Twitter Account of 2014" by Forbes, has been recognized as "Who to Follow" by Twitter, Top Prospect Alert, and Bleacher Report, and was named among "Top 50 Baseball Related Twitter Accounts" by Baseball America and "30 Must Follow Twitter Accounts" by Mashable.

Evans attended Lane Technical High School on Chicago's North Side and DePaul University. Evans has two daughters, and lives in Boulder, Colorado.

References

1. Stone, Larry (22 October 2005). "Amid travels, Evans still a Chicago man.". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 2009-10-07.