"The Cardinals have hired a former member of their front office, Dan Kantrovitz, as director of amateur scouting less than four weeks after Jeff Luhnow's departure to become Houston Astros general manager.

Kantrovitz, 33, had served as Oakland A's coordinator of baseball operations and international operations until contacted last month by Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak.

Drafted in the 25th round as a collegiate outfielder by the Cardinals in 2001 and hired in 2004 as the organization's director of college scouting, Kantrovitz becomes the final piece in a front office that no longer lists a vice president in charge of player development and scouting. Luhnow held those titles until hired by the Astros on Dec. 7.

Kantrovitz possesses a background in analytics fostered as an undergraduate at Brown University, where he starred as a shortstop, and further developed as a graduate student at Harvard, where he earned a master's in statistics."