#pitching-development

#pitching-development

After rebuffing an interview attempt from the Nationals, the Cubs have promoted Tyler Zombro to vice president of pitching, reports Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic. After just one year in the front office, Zombro will now take on an expanded role in scouting, coaching, and player development. Zombro joined the organization last season as a special assistant to president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer. He'd previously worked with Tread Athletics, a well-regarded training facility.

The Royals have hired Mike McFerran as an assistant pitching coach, the club announced. The 32-year-old comes over from the Athletics organization, where he'd spent the past two seasons working with minor league pitchers. McFerran has never previously worked on an MLB staff. His two-year stint with the A's was his first in a professional organization. McFerran had previously worked in the college ranks.

Kendy appeared in 16 games, 10 as a starter, in 2025. He began the season with the FCL Braves where he really stood out - appearing in 6 games where he had a 7.46 K/9 and 3.83 BB/9 rate. With an ERA of just 1.81, Kendy forced the Braves to promote him to full season ball, which is a bit of a surprise given his lack of experience in professional baseball.

Marin, who served as the Pirates' pitching coach from 2020-25, will take over for Matt Tracy, who's moved from bullpen coach to assistant pitching coach. Last year's assistant pitching coach, Simon Mathews, was hired away as the Nationals' new pitching coach earlier this week. Marin broke into pro ball back in 2010 with the Rangers, working as a coach and assistant in their minor league ranks for seven years.

Angeles spent his entire season in the DSL, appearing in 10 games (4 starts) and pitching 35.1 innings. He recorded a 3.57 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, and 24 strikeouts to 10 walks. He allowed just 6.1 hits per nine innings. Angeles pitched very well, and was arguably the best pitcher on the DSL Braves staff. He limited his base runners, which helped him to limit the damage against him.

The short answer is that it probably doesn't, as the combination of circumstance and sample makes a Yesavage redux nearly impossible to duplicate. Paul Skenes never should have pitched in the minors at all, yet the Pirates kept him at Triple-A for seven starts last year. Whatever brain genius decided on that path cost Pittsburgh a draft pick and a year of service time, which is all the more hilarious to me because of their skinflint owner.

Aroldis Chapman and the Red Sox agreed to a one year extension valued at $13.3 million, with a mutual and/or vesting option valued at an additional $13 million for 2027. Is this a smart move? On one hand, Chapman is one of the greatest relievers of all-time and is having one of the best seasons of his career, posting a near-career best strikeout-to-walk ratio of 5.29 and an ERA+ of (holy shit alert) 401. That's pretty good!

On the day Jonah Tong was born - Thursday, June 19, 2003 - the Mets lost 5-1 to the Marlins at Soilmaster Stadium. Mike Bacsik gave up an early three-run homer to Mike Lowell, things got worse in the fifth, and a dreary game eventually expired. I'm sure I was watching and also glad I don't remember wasting that particular two and a half hours of my life. The win let the Marlins leap-frog the Mets, leaving them last in the NL East.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Pirates general manager Ben Cherington to discuss... What attracted Cherington to a smaller market like Pittsburgh (2:40) Why have the Pirates been so much better at developing pitching than hitting? (5:10) The choice of picking Paul Skenes first overall in 2023 (9:05) The Pirates not having signed a free agent to a multi-year deal in many years (13:45) Is there a sense of urgency for the Pirates to make something happen in the near future? (16:20) The balance of subtracting pitching to add hitting (18:45) What percentage of rumors that make it to the public are based in fact? (22:30)

The Blue Jays have struggled to develop starting pitchers, with only two homegrown players starting playoff games in ten years: Marcus Stroman and Alek Manoah.

Control is everything for Noah Schultz because inconsistency in his command has raised concerns about his development as he faces tougher competition in Triple-A.