5 Interesting Facts About New Twins Pitching Coach Brian Reith

[Nick Nelson]

Image courtesy of Durham Bulls

Last week the Twins announced the hiring of a new pitching coach in Brian Reith, who formerly held the same position for the Tampa Bay Rays' Triple-A affiliate. He's been in the minor-league instructional circuit for a while now, but those who follow the big leagues may be unfamiliar with his name.

To help you get acquainted, here's a rundown of Rieth's background and a few facts about him that might help shed light on why the Twins selected him, and what could be expected to change under his watch. 

A more traditional choice for pitching coach

The last two Twins pitching coaches were far from conventional. Wes Johnson was plucked straight from the college ranks with no formal experience coaching in the pros, an exceedingly rare transition. When Johnson returned from whence he came, his former assistant Pete Maki stepped in as another outside-the-box staff leader, originally drawn from the college ranks and never having pitched professionally.

When he was first hired last year, manager Derek Shelton emphasized the importance of bringing major-league experience onto the coaching staff. His initial wave of hires, which included LaTroy Hawkins and Grady Sizemore, reflected that priority. Reith does too. 

He's farther removed from his MLB playing time than Hawkins or Sizemore, but Reith threw almost 130 innings in the majors with Cincinnati back in the early 2000s. During his playing career he also pitched in China, Mexico, and indy leagues. He's got a lot of practical experience and that's a notable distinction from his predecessors. 

He has a reputation as a fastball evangelist

In a 2018 interview with IndianaRBI, Reith emphasized mastery of the fastball as foundational to effective pitching. “What I focus on mostly is fastball command and getting them to understand the four quadrants of the (strike) zone, how effective that can be and how it sets up their other pitches,” said Rieth, who was pitching coach for Tampa's Single-A affiliate at the time. “By doing this, starters can also help relievers later in the game.”

That philosophy seems to remain intact eight years later. As Twins Daily's Parker Hageman notes, the Class-AAA Durham Bulls threw a 60.2% mix of fastballs over the past five years under Reith, and with great success. The Twins, meanwhile, threw the lowest mix of fastballs in the majors last year (26.7%). 

 

The Twins have a complex decision-making structure, and of course, different personnel from Tampa's Triple-A team. Reith isn't going to just come in and commandeer game-planning singlehandedly. But I do expect we'll see this influence play out in some fashion. 

I'm here for it, in large part because more fastballs can lead to fewer walks, and that was an irritating tendency of the 2026 Twins staff. In five years with Reith as their pitching coach, Durham issued the fewest walks in Triple-A.

A successful track record

Not only did Durham excel at strike-throwing during Reith's tenure, they were also just really good in general, ranking fourth in WHIP, fifth in strikeouts and fifth in ERA among Triple-A clubs. That success can't be attributed solely to Reith; the Rays as an organization are a pitching development powerhouse, and that's why they are where they are, bidding for a World Series berth with a bottom-tier payroll. But Reith has been a key cog in their integrated system for many years. 

Short of actual major-league experience, I can't imagine what more I'd want to see from a pitching coach's track record to instill confidence.

Connections to current Twins players and coaches

It wouldn't be a Twins hire if there wasn't some historical familiarity. Reith comes over from a Rays organization that previously employed Shelton, and his predecessor Rocco Baldelli. Reith overlapped with Minnesota's pitching-minded assistant GM Josh Kalk in Tampa as well, and that feels like a particularly meaningful connection.

During his time with the Rays, Reith also worked with several current Twins pitchers, including some pertinent names:

• Taj Bradley: Spent considerable time pitching Durham over the years and was there when the Twins traded for him at the deadline in 2025. “My relationship with (Bradley) is good,” Reith said after joining the Twins. “It’s a mature relationship. We’ve worked well together in the past, and I’m really excited to work with him again and continue that and build on that some more.”
• Joe Ryan: Reith was coaching in the minors for Tampa as Ryan developed into a legit pitching prospect, and oversaw him directly at Class-A Bowling Green in 2019. Ryan came up as one of the most extreme fastball-heavy pitchers in the game, which seems relevant given the prior note about Reith's philosophies.
• Relievers: Yoendrys Gómez was with Tampa on a minor-league deal this past spring and made the team, so he didn't actually pitch in Triple-A, but I'm sure the two crossed paths at least. Reith did coach Eric Orze and Garrett Acton in Durham, though it remains to be seen if those two will stay in the 2027 picture. Maybe their history with Reith gives them a leg up.

A bridge between analytics and instruction

This, I believe, is what the Twins are hoping Reith can actualize. The game of baseball is increasingly driven by data and analytics. Every team uses them to some extent, but the most effective ones are able to translate information into actionable and impactful guidance. 

The new hire brings an interesting blend of experience in this regard. He made it to the big leagues as a pitcher. His fastball-centric mindset feels decidedly old school. Despite coming from an analytics-oriented Rays organization, and surely is adept with technology, you don't read his quotes and get the sense that he leads with it.

Kyle Gibson, who pitched for Durham in Triple-A in 2025 before retiring, told Dan Hayes of The Athletic that Reith "has an incredible understanding of how to use analytics to best set a pitcher up for success. He understands the delivery really well also, and will be a huge asset as the Twins keep developing pitching."

Here's hoping. There's definitely a lot to like.

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[tarheeltwinsfan]

I was curious why Reith had not been previously promoted by the Rays to be their major league pitching coach. I discovered that Reith has been blocked by Rays longtime pitching coach, Kyle Snyder. Snyder has been the Rays successful pitching coach since 2018.  These two coaches are about the same age. This is a very intriguing hire by the Twins. Welcome to the Twins Brian Reith. I hope the front office acquires some flame throwing lefties for you to coach. 

[Trov]

I personally believe the fastball control and location is one of the most important parts of pitching.  It is the backbone to full set of pitches.  Yes, pen guys can get away with an elite slider, or change up, because they will only face a guy one time, but starters need to have multiple pitches and throwing and controlling the fastball is important.

Also, it is not just about throwing the same fastball over and over.  There are different types you can throw. One of Rays best pitchers, Rasmussen, throws fastball about 76% of the time, but it is broken up into 3 different types, 4 seam, cutter, and sinker. 

I am not saying you can only get by with fastballs, but when you can hit all 4 corners it makes your other pitchers that much stronger.  Joe Ryan had an issue where his fastballs normally were up, and breaking stuff down, so it was easier for hitters to figure out what was what.  Eventually, he was able to pitch some fastballs at the knees for strikes, that makes the breaking pitch better.  If you can mix a 4 seam up, with a sinker up that falls into the zone, it makes the 4 seam up that much better.  Same with bottom of zone, it will get more chase, or rolling over the sinker down.  Cutters on inside and outside of zones mixed with 4 seams are that much more effective too.  Throw in a change or slider from time to time you will get that much more chases.

The key to pitching, has and always will be about keeping hitters guessing.  Location and changing of speeds go a long way.  I do agree pure velo and movement will always be hard to handle for hitters, but you can turn the velo up to 100 on the pitching machine and pump it the same spot eventually the hitters will hit it. If you get them looking up, and you hit the knees, or inside to outside that is what is effective. 

[mike8791]

Glad to see TD taking a more in-depth look at our new pitching coach!  I'm particularly pleased they hired someone with an established rep with a solid org. like the Rays.  While I had hoped the Twins would have made a bigger splash by poaching an established, successful major league coach, on the surface this selection seems like a particularly good fit for an org. badly in need of new blood.

My only nit to pick is why didn't guys like Ryan and Bradley emerge with the Rays, rather than the Twins?  Yes, Ryan was pretty young when traded but Bradley was a touted prospect who never really caught fire with the Rays org.  Lots of factors in grooming a successful big leaguers, so I don't want to single out Reith for this, but it does raise some questions. And, as many have noted, most of the Ray's pitching strength have come from trades rather than internal development.  I guess we'll just have to keep our fingers crossed that the new guy will be more successful in accelerating progression to major league stardom the old ones.

[LastOnePicked]

Very helpful, Nick. Good work. I tend to worry about a coach openly identifying a single or dominant approach with pitching or hitting - I hate to see the Twins get too scout-able and too easy to game-plan against. But Reith's track-record suggests success, so we'll see how it plays out.

If our pitchers are giving up a ton of extra-base hits on first or second pitch fastballs, we'll see how the plan adjusts.

[Coach]

21 minutes ago, mike8791 said:

Glad to see TD taking a more in-depth look at our new pitching coach!  I'm particularly pleased they hired someone with an established rep with a solid org. like the Rays.  While I had hoped the Twins would have made a bigger splash by poaching an established, successful major league coach, on the surface this selection seems like a particularly good fit for an org. badly in need of new blood.

My only nit to pick is why didn't guys like Ryan and Bradley emerge with the Rays, rather than the Twins?  Yes, Ryan was pretty young when traded but Bradley was a touted prospect who never really caught fire with the Rays org.  Lots of factors in grooming a successful big leaguers, so I don't want to single out Reith for this, but it does raise some questions. And, as many have noted, most of the Ray's pitching strength have come from trades rather than internal development.  I guess we'll just have to keep our fingers crossed that the new guy will be more successful in accelerating progression to major league stardom the old ones.

Taj's biggest problem that landed him back in AAA was that he was not studying scouting reports or hitter's data.  When the Twins got him, all that improved, and so did he.

[MackMan]

I remember many coaches telling me growing up, "Everything starts with the fastball." This guy takes it literally and it does make sense. If you can start to tunnel everything starting with the fastball, the off-speed and breaking pitches start to look really good as well. This is especially true if you can pair the fastball with a decent change-up and a lights out slider/sweeper. 

Start making everything look like a fastball out of the hand and the hitters will be flailing at everything. Or they get caught looking at pitches that catch the black on the outside/inside part of the plate. I think this gameplan, will help our pitchers pitch deeper into the games and our relievers become more reliable with less walks issued.

[4twinsJA]

Thanks for article, Nick. Most of time, the average fan knows little of pitching coaches background except maybe where they coached last.