Chicago Cubs latest to hire new type of coach
A scout in the big chair
While the Twins hired a scout as their bullpen coach, the Chicago Cubs decided to hire one as the main guy when they hired 37-year-old Tommy Hottovy as their pitching coach on Thursday.
Hottovy does have major league pitching experience, having pitched in 2011 and 2012 in the big leagues, but he’s never served as a pitching coach. He originally joined the Chicago Cubs baseball operations department in 2015.
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The past three seasons, Hottovy has been putting together game plans based on advanced scouting and working directly with pitchers in his role as advanced scouting coordinator to interpret the scouting data for the pitching staff, so working with the staff won’t be anything new. It’s the role that will change.
Hottovy won’t be headed out on a limb, however, as the Chicago Cubs also have longtime organizational member Lester Strode, who currently serves as the bullpen coach and has been with the organization for 30 years in various pitching roles, including the last 12 as bullpen coach. He will definitely be one Hottovy can lean on.
The Cubs also added the title of associate pitching coach to catching/strategy coach Mike Borzello, who has been with the Cubs since 2011. He may be best known as the bat boy in the infamous 1984 Padres/Braves brawl.
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The Chicago Cubs are just the latest to show that the path to a coaching job in Major League Baseball is not as linear as it once was. Whether that will be good or bad in the long run is yet to be determined.