NATIONAL HARBOR, MD. – Deron Johnson is being elevated from Twins scouting director to senior adviser to the scouting department, the team announced Monday. Johnson had been scouting director since 2007 but now will scout the top talent in America and abroad.

Sean Johnson, their West Coast supervisor, will take over as scouting director and oversee the draft. He will have the final say on who the Twins will select with the first overall pick in 2017.

"Deron was open to the conversation," new Twins General Manager Thad Levine said. "We're really going to expand his role from being more focused on the domestic amateur markets to include the international markets as well as professional scouting."

• There was a Kirilloff sighting at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center. Not Alex Kirilloff, the Twins' 2016 first-round pick, but his father, David Kirilloff.

David runs an indoor facility for baseball and softball players just outside of Pittsburgh and loves teaching hitting, so much that he has a website, LanguageOfHitting.com, and is meeting with teams to offer his services as an instructor. He believes he has the right formula to get hitters in the proper rhythm so they can do as much damage as possible.

Alex Kirilloff hit .306 with seven home runs and 33 RBI in 55 games for rookie league Elizabethton.

• Former Twins infielder Jamey Carroll jokingly said he was not impressed by the Twins' move to hire Torii Hunter, LaTroy Hawkins and Michael Cuddyer as special assistants.

"We've been doing this at Pittsburgh for years," Carroll said while sitting with fellow former players Scott Elarton and Kevin Young. Those three help out the Pirates the way the Twins hope Hunter, Hawkins and Cuddyer will help out in Minnesota.

Carroll is glad to see the three get involved. However, he can't believe how much publicity the Twins' move received. "Tell Torii I will take him down!" he said.

• A lot folks are buzzing about Mark Melancon's four-year, $62 million deal with the Giants, which would be the most money committed to a reliever. Melancon can opt out after two years, but he's guaranteed $17 a year there the first two years, the highest average annual salary for a reliever ever. What happens with Aroldis Chapman now?

La VELLE E. NEAL III