June 27: The Twins formally announced this morning that Johnson will depart the organization to accept his new role at LSU. His final day with the Twins will be Thursday.
“Wes Johnson has been an integral part of our organization over the last three and a half seasons and has helped guide our pitchers at the highest level,” Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey said in a press release. “His leadership, insight, creativity, and ability to effectively work across a diverse team were hallmarks of his time with the Minnesota Twins. His influence and impact will continue to be realized in Minnesota through the pitchers and staff members he helped mentor. We wish him and his family all the best during his next stop at LSU.”
June 26, 11:03PM: Johnson will receive a $380K annual salary from LSU, according to the school, a modest increase over the approximately $350K per year that the coach received from the Twins. Johnson will indeed leave for LSU when the Twins’ series in Cleveland concludes on Thursday.
7:17PM: Maki will be promoted and become the Twins’ new pitching coach, Gleeman and Hayes report (via Twitter). Also from Hayes, talks between the Twins and Johnson were more about “what might make [the] job more appealing” to Johnson, and he didn’t ask the club for more money. LSU, meanwhile, was “very aggressive” in recruiting Johnson.
6:30PM: In a surprise midseason move, Twins pitching coach Wes Johnson is leaving the team to return to the college ranks, as D1 Baseball’s Kendall Rogers (Twitter link) reports that Johnson has been hired as LSU’s new pitching coach. Johnson is in his fourth season with the Twins, but has previous SEC ties — he worked as a pitching coach at Mississippi State and at Arkansas before joining Minnesota in November 2018.
Johnson had never worked in pro baseball prior to being hired by the Twins, though several teams in recent years have hired coaches with more varied resumes than the usual background as a player, coach, or manager at the MLB or minor league levels. In that regard, Johnson was something of a forerunner to this trend, as he was an early adopter of Trackman technology even at the college level.
Since the start of the 2019 season, Minnesota pitchers rank 10th in baseball in fWAR (46.8), which is a strong total even factoring in the injuries and performance drop-offs that plagued the Twins during their disappointing 2021 campaign. Starting pitching was seen as a big question mark for the Twins heading into 2022, but the club has weathered another set of injuries to post strong-to-respectable numbers in several categories. The success stories include Chris Archer’s comeback year, and rookie Joe Ryan pitching well in his first full MLB season.
The pitching has been a reason behind the Twins’ 41-33 record, and rise to first place in the AL Central. With this in mind, it makes it all the more unusual that Johnson would leave so abruptly — The Athletic’s Dan Hayes reports that the Twins only learned yesterday about Johnson’s negotiations with LSU. With Minnesota about to begin an important five-game series against the Guardians, Aaron Gleeman of The Athletic adds that Johnson is expected to remain with the Twins until that series is over.
Presumably, assistant pitching coach Luis Ramirez or bullpen coach Pete Maki are the likeliest candidates to step into Minnesota’s pitching coach role on at least an interim basis. Given the sudden nature of Johnson’s departure, the Twins are perhaps more apt to wait until after the season to hire a permanent replacement.
Leaving for a lateral move is surprising
Well, yeah, but I think this is a step down, right? Lateral would be to another professional organization, not from pros to college.
Just my perspective though, but if he’s happy, good for him, it’s the right choice.
Lateral or step down doesn’t really matter when you’re making 500K more a year.
Sheeeeeeeet I’d go mostly anywhere for $750k.
Where do I sign?
Bingo.
SoxFan24: Yeah, that surprised me. I wrote the comment prior to the addition of the pay section in the narrative, but for the college to pay twice as much a pro team for the same title coach is a tad unexpected, although not unheard of.
Good for him, man. Less travel, twice as much money…what’s not to like?
Um…he’s making 30k more. This just shows how much he must hate the Twins or Minnesota.
Why is that a lateral move?
Many coaches prefer working with college players instead of professionals. Can be a lot more satisfying. And guys don’t go on an off the roster 3 times a week.
Going one step further: MLB is burning out their pitchers. There’s something terribly unethical about the way pitchers are expected to throw. 30 years ago managers and coaches would have been fired for the way they handle pitchers today.
You make a lot of sense! Just would not allow him to walk!
@Samuel unethical?? LOL! Most of these guys can’t get through half a game and your talking unethical? If this is unethical what would you call pitching in the 1990s and earlier? The problem is not how pitchers are handled it’s that they don’t know how to actually pitch. I feel like you don’t know the meaning of unethical. They make millions dude even relievers so unethical is not the correct word. Managers only have so many options to work with if these guys are unhappy with how they’re handled they can go work someplace else.
What? College pitchers get ran into the ground while major league pitchers are monitored carefully
Seriously?
Major League pitchers are doing on disabled lists at an epidemic rate. This is how they’re “monitored”? Is there a team out there that doesn’t have at least 2 pitchers out for the season?
Are college kids taught to hit endless foul balls and to get the pitchers out of the game, so that their coaches have the kids put more and more stress on their shoulders / arms / forearms/ and wrists as they have to create more movement to “miss bats”?
Hey man, fouling pitches off instead of hitting a bad pitch to hit is pretty much the definition of having a good plate discipline. Wtf are you talking about? Do you think hitters should just concede their at bat so pitchers do not have to throw so many pitches?
This Samuel guy knows just enough about baseball that his friends think he knows a lot but everyone else knows differently.
Well, Davey Johnson made Dwight Gooden pitch complete game after complete game with the Mets and ruined his career. He was with the Mets quite a long time.
believeitornot;
He came under criticism for that, as did Billy Martin when he burned out A’s pitchers one year.
MLB used to look at their pitchers as assets and wanted them as healthy as possible. There was never anywhere close to the number of pitching injuries we routinely see and accept each year. Heck, TJ surgery has moved from an epidemic to an acceptable standard practice.
I’m sure the cocaine had nothing to do with ruining his career.
Samuel, how often do you see a complete game now? It’s because they don’t know how to pitch these days.
Sad to say but his coke addiction probably prolonged his career. He went to Smithers for rehab and it gave him a break from pitching so many complete games. Btw, does putting something up your nose hurt your arm? I don’t think so. There was an SI article on young starting pitchers pitching so many innings? Why do you think Fernando Valenzuela flamed out? Why do you think Bret Saberhagen was good in odd years but pretty bad in even ones? The article said there is a hardening of cartilage in pitchers’ arms until the age of 25. If a pitcher pitches too many innings and doesn’t have enough cartilage to protect his arm, that pitcher’s effectiveness will go downhill.
Tell that to Steve Carlton or Tom Seaver, after looking at their complete game totals. Or Greg Maddux for that matter. If you know how to pitch, you don’t need to throw everything at 100mph, and you don’t blow out your arm. This is not MLB’s fault, it is poor coaching at all levels.
Bingo. Guys are taught how to throw harder, not how to pitch. If you don’t know the difference there’s no point in arguing with anyone here about it.
30 years ago.. Pitchers were pitching complete games..
Thanks for a few words clueless joe!
While it is surprising, LSU is one of the premiere programs and he will see a steady supply of top talent with a lot more job security.
Shorter season, 1/3ish the amount of games, less travel, etc etc
I can easily see why you’d leave mlb back for college if the money is close (or more)
Less security. Higher expectations with having top talent. If LSU does not win and dominate pitching he will be on the hot seat.
And you think he wouldn’t have that as a big league pitching coach?
Not a lateral move if he is making more money
Same role $ does not change that.
Yes and $400k
Actually no. LSU historically has a strong college baseball program. I’d imagine any major position on that staff would be considered a major win.
Leaving for a lateral move sounds bad on the twins
I’d take a demotion if it meant I was making over double the money. Not really a lateral move.
I would not let him go in midseason, unless his contract allows him to break it for college. Let your Yes be Yes, and your no be no! If he quits, sue him!
There’s pretty much nothing that can be done on the Twins end except maybe a signing bonus that would have to be returned.
All suing accomplishes is making it more difficult to hire coaches in the future.
Mlb pitching coaches don’t make much. Probably a better package at LSU.
Very easy 500k floor at LSU
Odd that he would leave during the season and not negotiate leaving after the season.
One wonders how much coin he’s getting from LSU to consider this move.
Uh read the article – 750k
It was updated, @stevep-4. Pay attention. The first two posts regarding this did not have salary included.
That info wasn’t there when the person posted their reply. It was added later.
Very high character choice here…
If changing jobs reflects badly on someone’s character, most fall into that category.
Interesting and very unexpected
Twins lose their JOHNSON !!
Ability of MLB pitching staff to perform is in doubt.
I expect that he’s burned any bridge back to MLB by leaving a division-leading team mid-season. I’m sure he has considered that and decided that he much prefers to pursue the rest of his career in an elite college program.
I can certainly see why you’d think this would burn a bridge; but, also consider the move could’ve been mutually acceptable, or he left for personal reasons not discussed in the article, but the organization is aware, therefore it wouldn’t have any impact.
Time will tell, but if he is successful with LSU, someone will offer him a job in MLB again, imo. Just look to Cora/Hinch/Beltran for examples.
You may be right. I think most teams would feel that he quit on his team for 400,000 personal reasons a year. It will take a lot of success to overcome that. It’s probably a moot point though. I expect he’ll be successful at LSU and continue there or at other elite college programs for as long as he wants.
The Twins are letting him out of his contract so there’s no reason to believe that other teams would hold it against him in the future. Not that it matters, since it seems like a pitching coach at a good college program can make much more than in the MLB. So he likely has no interest in going back again.
No worse than a team firing a coach in midseason. That happens all the time.
Lol he hated his job.
Clown comment
Lol calling your own comment a clown comment
I give credit to Wes for helping turn a lot of meh Twins pitchers into pretty okay Twins pitchers. Thanks, Wes, for that. And yeah, leaving the Twins mid-season is kind of a suck, but I don’t know the situation. Good luck to you, Wes.
There must be more to this story. Maybe he likes working with younger pitchers or didn’t like all the traveling. Seems odd he’d leave in mid-season.
That LSU staff is only a month away from reporting to campus for fall ball.
So what? That fall ball really helped them last season. lol
People act like this is the 2nd coming of Jim Schlossnagle or something.
@619bird
I was responding to another person on why this move came mid mlb season. It’s actually hire time for NCAA. Can’t hire a job that’s filled until June. This is when a LOT of hires take place. Just interesting because of the unusual nature of an active MLB pitching coach being involved.
The hires aren’t unusual between college and pro, just not usually as high profile. This also happened while I was involved at a high level program, but it was a Player Development Director role…he ended up managing later in MLB.
@619- “So what?” That’s a weird retort. All teams, good or bad have fall ball and recruiting to attend to. Since they didn’t win a title this year they should just not bother? They’ll be highly ranked and a potential favorite next season.
Hard to find much on his Bio but he does have a son. Maybe LSU wants him as a recruit?
Success… where is that?… twins still don’t have a true ACE.. if your are playing to be relevant.. Wes has done a good job… It you are pitching to be a true contender… Wes and the Dynamic duo are striking out.. I never learned this being competitive crap as a victory.. it may sell ticket but.. win World series… no… they can’t even win a post season game or series…
You have the most accurate handle I’ve ever come across.
Tee hee
Leading the division without an ace is actually a sign that he was doing a good job.
Someoldguy your precisely why mlb owners should all spend less on talent. Why spend a bunch when you’ve got fans that are buffoons like yourself. First place who cares? Strip the team, win the same make money off your ignorant butt.
Its actually in the MLB rules… the reason to play the game is to win… and what gives you the best chance of winning… TOP PITCHING… you want a championship… Get 2 Ace pitchers and some offense.. and every season you’ll have a shot at a world series… why because pitching wins post season games.. Offense sells tickets… pitching wins championships.. and the MN twins are a great ticket seller… but they haven’t developed ACE type pitching… thus they are the world record holder for the most consecutive games lost in the post season… so the next time you see your reflection… please don’t assume it is someone else..
LSU waited until after the College World Series today to announce the hire. 750k is nice pay, and that’s a storied collegiate program. No idea how it transpired as far as communication with the Twins. But this is hire time for NCAA programs. Seems weird, because it’s mid-season MLB, and the odd nature of the hire. But we’re only about a month off of players moving back for fall ball, and Sept 1 rolling around. It’s not a lot of time considering it might involve housing, and dealing with personal family matters.
A plush NCAA job would offer a LOT of incentive for an individual. Arkansas wasn’t too shabby. LSU and that money would be hard to turn down. There’s often a lot movement between professional and college baseball….just maybe not this newsworthy and high profile.
Dock_Elvis;
Excellent, informative comments.
Thanks.
Twins must want some prospect(s) from that college.
Well everyone wants Dylan Crews but he’s not a pitcher.
I’m MLB I ban any college from talking to coaches during season.
What kind of power do you think MLB actually has? They can’t impose sanctions against a college or anything. Even if they do try, what exactly could they do to LSU for not adhering to the ban?
Uh, free market capitalism and a good lawyer would make that difficult.
Something sick in the structure for a pitching coach to make 750K at a public university in a poor state. And make 350K at a private company (that, of course, benefits from socialism for the oligarchs with tax money given free to them).
What does it say about the Twins that LSU would pay him DOUBLE what a Major League Team will pay? So he’s getting paid twice as much money, To Coach in 1/3 of the games and you all think it’s a LATERAL move? Since College Teams mostly play in their own regions there is less travel, A more stable home life, and players who might actually listen to him. I couldn’t leave fast enough.
What does it say about Public Colleges that they have that kind of money to offer?
From 2020-21, LSU athletics spent more than they made. During that same time, the Twins made more than 2x what all of LSU athletics did (football being the cash cow). Twins generate a lot more revenue than LSU and they obviously value a premiere coach more than a MLB team does, which is alarming, but not surprising.
Like a former NFL coach going back to coach in NCAA, recruits want to play for a coach with MLB experience – even if it’s a little. You don’t see a lot of NCAA men’s baseball coaches with MLB coaching experience, so that’s going to look good to recruits.
RunDMC;
Keep in mind that college athletic programs are a major selling point to Alumni Departments when asking for donations. That offsets any loses and brings in a lot of money.
Good point, and I know with football taking a hit, they need some big hires to at least make the appearances that the program is ascending.
It says very little about the Twins and a lot about LSU. I went to the College World Series a few years back when LSU was in. I didn’t have tickets to their games but it still seems like half the fans had LSU gear. In many ways they are to college baseball what KU, Duke, North Carolina, etc are to college basketball.
They’ll be more pressure to win at LSU.
It may be a game but it’s still business. Good luck Wes!
He’s moving from Minnesota to Louisiana. Certainly not a lateral move.
If he is successful down there, next he can run for the US Senate.
Nowadays college position coaches make way more money at the big programs than their pro ball counterparts.
When LSU head coach Jay Johnson was still at Arizona, the program hired Nate Yeskie from Oregon State as their pitching coach, who was also courted by the Yankees at that time. Arizona offered Yeskie a contract over $650,000 annually, including better job security than MLB franchises are willing to provide. Hence, the Yankees were out of the race.
Many of the big college programs even pay their head coaches more than MLB gives to some of their managers. In 2019 at least nine college baseball coaches made more than $1 million annually while eleven MLB managers made less than $1 million.
More money, better job security, sometimes state pensions… it’s a no-brainer.
How much so those colleges pay their teachers I wonder? Ya know, the people who actually do what colleges are supposed to do?
Well, in case of the University of Arizona, they fired hundreds of faculty and staffers under the disguise of the pandemic while the athletic director had his salary bumped by 50%, from $500,000 to $750,000. Simultaneously, the head coach of the women’s basketball program, the school’s biggest money loser, got her salary more than doubled from $500,000 to over $1.1 million.
But who needs a stinkin’ education when he/she/it can later proudly wear their alma mater’s championship t-shirt while making pizza deliveries or driving Uber?
Good for him on getting to place and salary that’s good for his family. But…….a public university paying $750K per year for a pitching coach? Maybe not the best use of public education funds?
The LSU athletic department does not use public funding. They are totally self-sufficient, one of about 8 university athletic departments to operate that way. In fact, for about a 20 year period, the athletic department was able to donate about $7-12m to the general fund of the university to aid in scholarships, aid, upgrades, etc. I’m not trying to be snarky, please don’t take it that way. I’m just trying to hopefully answer your question.
I’m going to say that I’m 100% biased about this decision because I went to LSU, and have lived purple and gold for the past 50 years. LSU is a perennial top 15 college baseball program, in the top baseball conference in the country. The athletic department is strong, and pretty self-sufficient in all sports. College baseball has evolved as much as football and basketball, that you see former players (Reggie Willits, Matt Holliday, Tim Hudson) taking/leaving professional jobs in order to teach/work in colleges now. Alan Dunn was LSU’s pitching coach for 6 years up until this year, and he left a professional job with Baltimore. It’s more pronounced because, as others have alluded to, the hiring time for college baseball falls in the middle of the MLB season, but it happens, and IMHO, will continue to happen more frequently in the future, especially if universities have the ability to compensate better than their professional counterparts.
Maybe you’re biased but you’re not wrong. This looks like an aggressive move from a perennially powerful college baseball franchise. It will be interesting to see if this is part of an evolving trend.
I keep thinking about the LSU pitcher from a couple of years ago who “hit nukes in high school”.
In addition to the 100% raise, I have to think that recruiting and retaining prime 18 to 22 year old talent is a factor. Now that D1 athletes have NIL compensation, that makes that part easier.
What!!?? No two weeks notice?
Why not? In the end, you only live 1 life so if I can get paid double what I am currently making, I’d take it too.
There is more to this story that is as yet unsaid.
The Twins COULD have held onto his services until the expiration of his contract.
But then, when an employee decides to go it is best to let them do so.
If he wanted to go and was denied that opportunity both his attitude and desire would take on a decidedly negative attitude which would affect both his ability to relate to pitchers, position players, fellow coaches, the team manager and the front office.
Despite the difference in dollars, movement from Pitching Coach of an MLB club to the position of Pitching Coach for a college program is not a lateral move, but rather a step down.
I would suspect there are some kind of family issues at the root of this move.
Letting him go could be just another example of the Twins being “Minnesota Nice” and not hindering their future ability to recruit and sign other coaches when that is necessary.
When looked at in totality, this is actually a step up.
The LSU pitching coach makes $750,000 a year. But the Twins pitching coach position makes $350,000 a year. The college coach makes $400,000 more then the same position in MLB? I think mlb pitching coaches should start applying for college positions.
Interesting that he leaves in the middle of the Year considering the college season won’t start until well after the Major League baseball season is over. Perhaps LSU wanted an answer right now so they would know who is going to be their pitching coach. It’s also interesting he’s going to be paid so much more at the college level than he was in the major leagues I have no dog in the hunt and I wish him all the best at LSU except when he’s playing the Tennessee Vols.
Summer camps start in July and fall practices and scrimmage games for college teams start September 7th. Right now is when most schools are doing their hiring.
750k to be a college pitching coach? Holy snikees. The university of Wisconsin got rid of baseball in the early 90’s because it was too expensive. Good for that dude. An extra 400k a year and less miles pressure
More pressure. Much more. This is the SEC he is going back to and a program that is always good but hasn’t had a CWS appearance since 2017 and no titles since 2009. The situation there is akin to the Yankees or Dodgers not making the playoffs for 5 straight years.
I’m now curious what pitching coaches around the game make. There are only 30 lead pitching coach positions in the highest. most-competitive league in the world, yet Johnson was only making $350K several years into his gig. Certainly 350K is a good amount of money for the average person, but seems light for a lead MLB coaching position, especially considering all the advances in pitching analytics and expectations from pitching coaches today. Is this a case of the Twins being really cheap? Losing your pitching coach midseason because a college program more than doubled his pay to $750K? I would have guessed any lead pitching coach was already making $750K!
It is flat out ridiculous that a college team can outbid a MLB club for coaching talent. They’re not even paying a key coach half of what the MLB minimum is for a player.
I wonder how many professionals can make twice as much money teaching at a college compared to working in the corporate world?
I’m sorry but this is totally f’ed up. And yes, I get it. But it doesn’t make it right.
Johnson is from Arkansas and lives on the gulf coast in the offseason. He coached in the SEC at Mississippi State and Arkansas before going straight to the majors in his first MLB job. Its not surprising that he is going back to the SEC, especially when you consider he will get more money, have less travel, and be closer to home. The fact that the Tigers have not been to the CWS in 5 years is likely behind a huge spending spree on their coaching staff the last 2 years.
Chris Fetter the Detroit Tigers pitching coach turned down the head coaching pitching for the University of Michigan. I wonder what he is making as a pitching coach for the Tigers and how much he turned down to go to UM.