Minnesota Twins Possible Pitching Coach Options
The Minnesota Twins will be searching for a new pitching coach after dismissing Neil Allen. Who are some of the best options?
After dismissing Neil Allen, the Minnesota Twins will be conducting a pitching coach search this offseason. While the front office discussed some of the things they would be looking for in a pitching coach on Tuesday, there doesn’t seem to be an internal candidate to match that criteria. So who will they turn to?
Let’s start with one option that was on the table when Allen was hired:
Carl Willis
Willis is a very intriguing career story, and one that Minnesota Twins fans remember well. He was originally drafted by the Detroit Tigers in 1983 in the 23rd round, but he threw well enough to earn his way to the majors by 1984. However, after spending at least part of the 1984-1986 season in the major leagues, Willis started a time where he seemed to bounce around the league, first to the White Sox in 1988 (where he did see a brief major league call up). He then was with the Angels AAA club in 1989 and the Indians AAA club in 1990 before the Twins picked him up in 1991. He quickly earned his way to the big leagues, where he was a vital part of the bullpen on the Twins’ World Series championship team, winning 8 games out of the bullpen and throwing 89 relief innings. After two more great seasons, Willis struggled through injury in 1994 and was released in 1995, pitching in the minors with the Angels that season before retiring.
Willis has become a very well-regarded pitching mind in his post-playing career. He was the pitching coach for the Cleveland Indians from 2003-2009. He then spent most of the 2010 season as the Mariners minor league pitching coordinator until they fired their pitching coach, and he was promoted to the Mariners pitching coach, where he served until 2013. He worked in various minor league roles, working his way back into the Cleveland Indians organization, where he worked with Derek Falvey while Falvey was with the Indians. In early 2015, Willis was hired by the Boston Red Sox to be their pitching coach. He’s served in that role ever since.
With the upheaval of the manager in Boston, Willis may be looking for a new position as well, and with his previous history in Minnesota and with Falvey, this could be a good fit. He was a finalist when the Twins hired Allen previously, and he’d seem to be a logical top choice.
Next: More Cleveland Connections
Jason Bere
Bere entered the major leagues in a storm, finishing 2nd in the AL Rookie of the Year and earning an All-Star bid in his first two seasons, but that was really the peak of his career in spite of 11 seasons in the major leagues.
He’s found a home with the Indians moving quickly from the minor league club in 2005 to the front office as a special assistant in 2006. He’s spent the last three seasons as the bullpen coach with the Indians, a role previously held by current Rays manager Kevin Cash.
Steve Karsay
Karsay was drafted in the first round in 1990 out of high school in Queens, New York, by the Blue Jays. The Blue Jays traded Karsay before he reached the majors to the Oakland A’s for Rickey Henderson in the summer of 1993. That was part of a whirlwind major league career that saw Karsay throw 11 years, make 357 appearances, throwing 603 1/3 innings, primarily in relief, for 5 different teams.
Karsay served in various advisor roles before the Indians hired him in 2012 as a minor league pitching coach. He’s worked his way up from the rookie ball level to the AAA pitching coach in the Indians organization, someone that Falvey would have certain familiarity with.
Ruben Niebla
Niebla was signed out of independent ball by the Expos after playing 3 years of independent ball. He pitched 3 minor league seasons, but never made the major leagues. He was part of the Cleveland Indians organization as a coach, ending up as the interim pitching coach in 2012 when the team fired Scott Radinsky. Niebla has been serving as the minor league pitching coordinator since Mickey Callaway came into the organization.
Next: Texas connections
Danny Clark
General manager Thad Levine comes from the Texas Rangers organization, so he would be familiar and have some comfort level with guys who are from that system. Clark has been with the Rangers system since 2006, when he was hired as the pitching coach with the Rangers low-A affiliate. Clark has been the Rangers minor league pitching coordinator since 2008, and he’s been credited with the success of a number of young pitchers that have come through the Rangers system in that time.
Andy Hawkins
Andy Hawkins had a decade-long major league career after being the 5th overall selection in the 1976 draft, having a few solid seasons for the San Diego Padres in the 1980s, with his most notable career moment coming when he allowed no hits against the Chicago White Sox on July 1st, 1990, but still ended up losing the game.
Hawkins bounced around in coaching before being brought up to be the interim pitching coach in Texas in 2008 when they let their pitching coach go. After Mike Maddux was brought on as pitching coach in Texas, Hawkins moved to bullpen coach alongside Maddux, staying in the role with Texas after Maddux left for Washington. Hawkins left the Rangers to be the pitching coach for the Royals AAA team in 2016 and has served in that capacity the last two seasons.
Next: Under Radar Options
Jose Rosado
Twins fans may know Rosado best as the pitcher who gave up Paul Molitor‘s 3,000th hit. Rosado had a brief major league career cut down by injury, making two All-Star games in his five seasons with the Royals before he tore his rotator cuff and never could fully recover.
Rosado has been working as a pitching coach in the Yankees system since 2012, spending the last three seasons with the Yankees’ AA Trenton club. He was also the pitching coach with the Puerto Rico team in the World Baseball Classic this past spring. He’s one of the rising stars in the game as far as pitching coaches go. The Twins did get their current hitting coach, James Rowson from the Yankees organization as a fast-rising option as well, so going back to that well wouldn’t be out of the question, especially with the team’s connections in Puerto Rico.
Tim Leveque
Leveque has been in the video evaluation and coaching of pitching with the St. Louis Cardinals since 2006. He has served as their minor league pitching coordinator since just ahead of the 2014 season. He’s considered to be a fast rising future pitching coach with an eye toward use of video evaluation and mechanical evaluation of pitchers.
Dan Meyer
Meyer was part of the Atlanta Braves organization before he was traded to the Oakland Athletics as part of the Tim Hudson deal. He pitched until 2013, when he did not make the Baltimore Orioles out of spring training and chose to retire.
Meyer has been coaching with the Braves since 2015, working originally as the minor league pitching rehab coordinator before spending the last two seasons with the Rome Braves, the low-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves, working with their premier pitching prospects the last two seasons and receiving huge praise. He’s another with a big future as a pitching coach that could be one of those guys the Twins get before he’s on anyone else’s radar for a major league job.
Next: Recently Let Go
This offseason has seen the resignation and firing of a trio of long-tenured, successful pitching coaches that could be guys that the Twins consider for their role:
Jim Hickey
Hickey never made the major leagues as a pitcher, but he has seen plenty of success as a pitching coach. He began his coaching career in the Astros organization in 1996 in the Houston Astros organization, working his way to the point where he was the interim pitching coach with the Astros in 2004, making the World Series in 2005.
Hickey left the Astros for the Tampa Bay Rays before the 2007 season, and he’s had tremendous success in that organization working with young pitchers and really working with a diverse set of pitchers each season to bring about excellent pitching staffs, making another World Series in 2008 with the Rays. He and the Rays parted ways this offseason, and he could be a very desirable choice due to his work within an analytical front office.
Dave Eiland
Eiland had a 10 year career that was fairly non-descript in the major leagues, only pitching 373 total innings, however, he’s been considered a very respectable coach since retiring as an active player. Eiland worked his way up the minor leagues in the Yankees organization as a coach in the 2000s, eventually taking the role of the pitching coach for the big league club in 2008, winning a World Series with the Yankees. He was fired after the 2010 season by the Yankees. After a season with the Rays in an advisory role, Eiland was selected as the Royals pitching coach before the 2012 season and has served as their coach through their recent successful run. The Royals chose not to bring Eiland back for the 2018 season.
Derek Lilliquist
The lefty had a productive 8-year career in the major leagues with 5 organizations before retiring in 1996. Lilliquist began coaching in the Cardinals organization in 2002, and worked his way to the major league staff in 2011, where he served as bullpen coach. He replaced Dave Duncan as the Cardinals pitching coach the next season and has served the last six seasons as the team’s pitching coach before the Cardinals chose not to bring Lilliquist back for the 2018 season.
Next: Big Name
John Farrell
Hear me out here. This is a shot in the dark sort of a call. Farrell is a pitching guru with some ties to the Indians development chain that could play into this possibility.
Farrell was just fired by the Red Sox from their manager job. However, that also means that he is already being paid by the Red Sox for 2018, making the money not the priority for Farrell. He’ll want to go to the spot that most suits him.
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Farrell worked with the Indians from 2001-2006 as the director of player development before moving to Boston to be their pitching coach from 2007-2010. Farrell was hired as the manager of the Blue Jays in 2011 and served in that role for two seasons before he was then hired by the Red Sox to be their manager.
Farrell has managed the Red Sox since 2013, winning a World Series in his first year at the helm. In 2015, Farrell had to take a leave of absence from the team in order to seek cancer treatment. Farrell returned in 2016, and the Red Sox have won the East the last two seasons, though they’ve also been defeated in the ALDS the last two seasons.
Next: Twins Make Two Front Office Hires
Farrell may be a long shot, but with his ties back to the Indians organization, even though it was before Falvey’s time with the organization, could prove something that the front office would find enticing. It would also bring another voice into the dugout with some authority alongside Paul Molitor.
What do you think? Any other names you think would be a good option? Comment below!