Rosenthal: Outsiders turned insiders are bringing a fresh, unconventional approach to pitching
From Ken Rosenthal at The Athletic on March 5, 2019:
If in 2011, reliever Addison Reed’s first year in the majors, a team had hired a college pitching coach who neither had pitched nor coached in pro ball…
“Nobody would have listened to him,” Reed says.
And if that same team also had hired a first-time assistant pitching coach who had never coached at only level…
“Even five years ago, it would have been, ‘Whoa, what?” says the assistant pitching coach in question, Jeremy Hefner.
Ah, but this is 2019, and the Twins’ grand experiment – hiring major-league newbies at pitching coach, assistant pitching coach and manager – barely even registers as shocking in the new world of baseball.
The manager, Rocco Baldelli, 37, is younger than his designated hitter, Nelson Cruz, 38, and older than his chief baseball officer, Derek Falvey, 35.
Read the full article here (subscription required): https://theathletic.com/851106/2019/03/05/rosenthal-outsiders-turned-insiders-are-bringing-a-fresh-unconventional-approach-to-pitching/
Originally published: March 5, 2019. Last Updated: March 5, 2019.