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Managerial/Coaching Notes: Thomson, Counsell, Guardians, Orioles

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There haven’t yet been any talks between the Phillies and manager Rob Thomson about a contract extension, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski told reporters (including the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Alex Coffey) this week.  Thomson was named interim manager during the 2022 season after Joe Girardi was fired, and after the Phillies’ run to the World Series, Thomson was given a new two-year pact as the club’s new full-time skipper.  No club options were attached to the deal, so the 60-year-old Thomson is only locked up through the 2024 campaign.

Despite the relative lack of contractual stability, it doesn’t appear as though Thomson is going anywhere, given how successful the Fightins have been under his watch.  With still plenty of time left for an extension to be negotiated, it wouldn’t at all be surprising to see a new contract for Thomson announced prior to Opening Day.  Though Thomson had been planning to retire from baseball heading into the 2022 season, his first run as a big league manager has re-energized his spirits.  “I love this city, this organization, this team.  I have never had as much fun in my life as I have the last couple of years.  So yeah, I can envision [managing beyond 2024,” Thomson told Coffey and company.

More on other dugout situations around baseball….

  • The Guardians are set to interview Craig Counsell after being granted permission by the Brewers earlier this week, creating speculation that the Guards might be able to find another experienced, successful manager to replace Terry Francona.  However, a Counsell/Cleveland pairing looks to be “a long shot,” as a source tells Terry Pluto of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.  Pluto feels Counsell will ultimately end up staying in Milwaukee, though he thinks “the Guardians should go hard after Counsell” by giving him a deal akin to Francona’s past status as the highest-paid manager in baseball.  Of course, this wouldn’t stop the Brewers from also offering Counsell a raise, or the deep-pocketed Mets (who are also pursuing Counsell) from going overboard in a bidding war.
  • The Orioles’ coaching changes earlier this week could be “akin to the principal becoming the headmaster of a school and a new principal coming in beneath him to handle the day to day,” The Baltimore Banner’s Jon Meoli writes.  Chris Holt will remain the club’s director of pitching, even if he will no longer be acting as the Orioles’ pitching coach and quite so intimately involved in game-day operations.  Odds are that the Orioles will fill the pitching coach role from within, though Meoli feels an outside hire would represent some alteration in Baltimore’s approach in managing and developing their hurlers.

Chris Holt Not Continuing As Orioles’ Pitching Coach, Remains Director Of Pitching

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Chris Holt will not return to the Orioles’ MLB staff as pitching coach, reports Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com. He will remain in the organization as its director of pitching, a position he has held concurrently with the pitching coach title for a few seasons. Assistant pitching coach Darren Holmes is departing the organization entirely, Kubatko adds. The rest of Brandon Hyde’s staff is expected to return for what’ll be the manager’s sixth season.

Holt, 44, has been with Baltimore since 2019. He had previously worked with the Astros, following former Houston executive Mike Elias to Baltimore when the latter was hired as general manager. Holt was named to the MLB staff going into 2021. The O’s apparently prefer to allow him to focus more consistently on the overhead role that allows him to work with MLB and minor league arms alike.

Holmes joined Baltimore going into the 2020 season as bullpen coach. He was bumped to assistant pitching coach a year later. The 57-year-old had a 13-year big league playing career and had previously spent a half-decade as bullpen coach of the Rockies.

The O’s are likely to add two new coaches to fill the vacancies on the pitching side. Otherwise, they seem set to run with the same group they had in 2023. Fredi González is the bench coach, while Matt Borgschulte and Ryan Fuller serve as co-hitting coaches.

Coaching Notes: Reds, Orioles

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The Reds have named Bryan Conger their new minor league pitching coordinator, per Bobby Nightengale of the Enquirer (via Twitter). Conger himself announced his hiring on Twitter. Conger spent the last two seasons coaching in the Rangers’ organization. The former head coach at Tarleton State, Conger has a history of data-driven innovation that fits the Reds’ ethos. J.J. Cooper of Baseball America wrote this about Conger when the Rangers initially hired him in January of 2019: “Individualization has been a key part of Conger’s approach. Each pitcher at Tarleton State had an individualized throwing program designed specifically for that pitcher. Conger viewed it as his job to use data as much as possible to help customize everything they did for each pitcher.” As the minor league pitching coordinator, Conger will have a broader scope at his fingertips than back in his Division II days, but the Reds no doubt value his personal approach.

  • Conger joines the Driveline/Reds family that also includes 25-year-old assistant pitching coach Eric Jagers. The former University of Iowa southpaw found his way to Driveline as an amateur pitcher struggling to stay healthy. Thoracic Outlet Syndrome further stymied his pitching career, importuning Jagers to commit early to a career in coaching, writes Bobby Nightengale of The Enquirer. Writes Nightengale, “The result was a meteoric rise through the sport. In three years, Jagers went from an injured college pitcher to the Cincinnati Reds’ Assistant Pitching Coach. At 25 years old, he’s one of the youngest coaches on any Major League staff.” Jagers takes over for Caleb Cotham – just 33-years-old himself – who was named the Phillies’ pitching coach this offseason.
  • In Baltimore, Chris Holt attempted to clarify his role for the upcoming season during a recent Zoom call, notes Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com (via Twitter). Holt has been the Orioles’ Director of Pitching, but he will slide into the dugout this year as manager Brandon Hyde’s pitching coach. He’s keeping his original title, however, which presumably puts an awful lot on Holt’s plate. Holt has been preparing for this role switch for years, with the organization hoping that Holt could form a cohesive organizational philosophy that he himself would usher to the big leagues as some of their developing hurlers made it to the Show. That’s presumably where they are now, with a number of young pitchers like Dean Kremer, Keegan Akin, Bruce Zimmermann, Hunter Harvey, Michael Baumann, Zac Lowther, and Alexander Wells already on the 40-man roster. Top prospects Grayson Rodriguez and DL Hall are both approaching the bigs as well, though both are likely to start 2021 in Double-A.

 

Orioles Name Chris Holt Pitching Coach

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2:55pm: Holmes has actually been promoted to assistant pitching coach, tweets Kubatko.

2:20pm: The Orioles are promoting Chris Holt to their vacant pitching coach position, general manager Mike Elias announced to reporters this afternoon (Twitter link via Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com). He’ll take over for former big league righty Doug Brocail, who had held the post for the past two seasons but wasn’t retained for a third year on the job.

Holt initially came to the Baltimore organization from the Astros. He’d previously served as the Houston’s assistant director of pitching, where he worked with Elias when Elias as an assistant general manager. Holt’s first title with the O’s was minor league pitching coordinator, but he was promoted to director of pitching last offseason — a role in which he had a more direct connection with Brocail and the staff. Holt will retain that director of pitching title but will now see his duties expand into the big league dugout.

Holt has previously worked to develop individualized pitching plans for the Orioles’ pitchers at both the minor league and big league levels. MLB.com’s Joe Trezza wrote recently that Holt was the internal favorite to take over the pitching coach role and has drawn praise for his “fluency” in analytic principles and his ability to communicate that information to players who aren’t as familiar with the data. He worked closely with many of the club’s young arms at the alternate training site in 2020, Trezza notes, including Keegan Akin and Dean Kremer.

Elias added that bullpen coach Darren Holmes will return for a second season as the club’s bullpen coach and work with Holt to oversee the staff as a whole. The Orioles hired Holmes last December after a five-year stint as the Rockies’ bullpen coach.

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