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Article: HAYES: Twins to Hire Wes Johnson as Pitching Coach

Tom Froemming

By Tom Froemming
in Twins Daily Front Page News

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Tom Froemming All-Star

Tom Froemming

Twins Daily Contributor
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Dan Hayes of The Athletic is reporting that the Twins will hire Wes Johnson to fill their pitching coach opening. Johnson has been the pitching coach for the University of Arkansas for the past two seasons.Prior to joining the Razorbacks, Johnson was the pitching coach at Mississippi State for a season and before that he filled the same role at Dallas Baptist for four seasons. His profile at Arkansas' official site has a wealth of additional information. Additionally, Hayes' report over at The Athletic also has some interesting details on Johnson's skills with modern technology, specifically TrackMan.

 

Arkansas advanced all the way to the College World Series championship this season before losing to Trevor Larnach and the Oregon State Beavers. That should make for a fun reunion at spring training.

 

UPDATE: John Shipley of the Pioneer Press is reporting that Jeremy Hefner will be transferred from being a member of the team's analytics group to bullpen coach.

 

Stephen Sullivan of KATV Little Rock detailed some of Johnson's climb up to the college ranks, which included a decade coaching high school teams. A quick search of Johnson's name on YouTube brings up a wealth of interviews as well as instructional segments. Here's a good profile on him that goes into his use of TrackMan at around the 2:00 mark.

 

 

Here's an interesting video that shows Johnson addressing his players on his first day of work at Mississippi State back in 2015.

 

 

To say this is an under the radar hire might be an understatement, as you don't see coaches make the jump from college ball to the majors all too often. This is a move that further establishes the Twins as a forward-thinking organization that's open to going outside the box.

Johnson takes over a role Garvin Alston held for just one season. The Twins ranked 22nd in ERA in 2018.

 

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dbminn First Round Pick

dbminn

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Interesting he was selected for pitching coach. With his background, I could see the FO hiring him to be minor league pitching coordinator. He has some new challenges ahead - an MLB season is a lot different than college. Congratulations to Wes Johnson and hope it all works out for the best!

MN_ExPat First Round Pick

MN_ExPat

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He may undoubtedly have some challenges at the pro level, but I fully believe that you can either coach or you cannot (much like leadership, you either have the ability or you do not).   There is little in between.  

 

 

Good luck Coach Johnson, I bid you welcome to our little pond.

cmoss84 First Round Pick

cmoss84

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It will be interesting to see how the veteran pitchers on the roster respond to someone with no pro coaching experience.

I don't see this being an issue. Players, at any level, realize very quickly if their coaches know what they are talking about or not. 

Seth Stohs GOAT

Seth Stohs

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Fun fact - he coached DJ Baxendale in high school.

 

When Baxendale was in high school, not Johnson. HA!!

 

Baxendale said that he played for him in the summer of 2005 and really learned a ton from him.

Platoon Cedar Rapids Kernels

Platoon

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He must have an overwhelming ability to sell both his view on pitching and himself. I agree with Chief, this is an all in choice. Nowhere to hide if it fails. This seems another indication that the first two years were look, learn, and evaluate. Now it's time to implement.

DocBauer All-Star

DocBauer

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This comes completely out of left field! It could be a HUGE reach, or a new-age brilliant move.

 

I will tell you that Arkansas head coach Dave VanHorn is outstanding and well respected. He re-built the Husker Basball team here in Nebraska to a nationally ranked program and his then pitching coach RB Childress, (I believe he's at Texas A&M now but can't recall clearly), built quality staffs and had several guys drafted. Since moving back to his almamatter at Arkansasm that program has been excellent and IIRC, has sent more than a couple guys to the draft.

 

I have a lot of respect for Dave VanHorn, so I'm going to be looking at Johnson as a good hire.

Han Joelo FCL Twins

Han Joelo

Verified Member
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This comes completely out of left field! It could be a HUGE reach, or a new-age brilliant move. I will tell you that Arkansas head coach Dave VanHorn is outstanding and well respected. He re-built the Husker Basball team here in Nebraska to a nationally ranked program and his then pitching coach RB Childress, (I believe he's at Texas A&M now but can't recall clearly), built quality staffs and had several guys drafted. Since moving back to his almamatter at Arkansasm that program has been excellent and IIRC, has sent more than a couple guys to the draft. I have a lot of respect for Dave VanHorn, so I'm going to be looking at Johnson as a good hire.

 

Completely unrelated, but now I know why they keep Eddie Rosario in left field--he fulfills the prophecy of this old metaphor perfectly.

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