Padres reassign scouting director Conner

The Padres continued to shake up their scouting and player development departments on Wednesday, announcing a series of moves that saw Mark Conner removed from his role as scouting director.

Conner, who joined the organization in 2010 as an amateur scout and spent seven seasons heading the team’s amateur scouting department, will transition to a new role as special assistant to general manager A.J. Preller.

In his place, Chris Kemp takes over as the Padres’ head of amateur scouting, after he’d spent the previous seven seasons manning the international department. (Kemp remains in charge of international scouting as well.)

Separately, the Padres also announced a promotion of Ryley Westman to the head of player development. That move comes two days after news that the club would not renew the contract of farm director Sam Geaney, who had spent seven seasons in charge of the team’s player development.