Spring Training Notebook: Minor League coaches check in
By Kourage Kundahl
GOODYEAR, Ariz. — At first glance, it seems like a misprint. How did Blue Wahoos manager Pat Kelly, a Minor League catcher for 12 seasons, become a pitching coach?
Kelly was groomed for the role, his first as a coach, during Dave Duncan’s tenure with the White Sox in 1984. Duncan followed a similar career arc, never throwing a pitch in his 14 professional seasons but enjoying a prolific career as a pitching coach.
“I think one of the hardest things for young managers to do is to handle pitching staffs, and I felt like I always had an advantage,” Kelly said. “One, being a catcher, and then two, spending three years as a pitching coach.”
Kelly made his managerial debut in 1986, where his Charleston Rainbows staff’s 3.69 earned run average was fourth-best in the South Atlantic League.
“It turned out to be very good for my managing,” Kelly said. “I had a much better feel for that part of the game, which I thought helped me as a manager.”
His rotation included future Padres and Diamondbacks general manager Kevin Towers, who is now a special assistant to Reds GM Walt Jocketty.
Loaded in Louisville
In his first season at the helm, Delino DeShields expects to see an abundance of players streaming through Louisville.
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“It can be a volatile level at times, a lot of movement,” DeShields said. “The rosters can change a lot more.”
And change it did, nearly to the tune of a franchise record. Louisville logged 204 transactions with 71 players appearing on the roster in 2014.
“Your team can be different from week to week in Triple-A, so that’s going to be a challenge,” DeShields said.
His Opening Day roster in Louisville will closely resemble the one he had in Pensacola a year earlier. Right-handed pitchers Michael Lorenzen and Jon Moscot will anchor the rotation while outfielders Donald Lutz and Yorman Rodriguez will stay fresh in pursuit of a Major League call-up.
No pitcher too big to fail
It may sound contradictory, but the best thing a Minor League pitcher can do is fail.
“That’s the learning process,” pitching coach Tom Brown said. “You have to get to a point where you fail. You really do. Very few guys are dominant all the way through.”
Brown points to Daniel Corcino, with whom he worked closely as the Wahoos’ pitching coach in 2012. Corcino scuffled in Louisville the next season, posting a 7–14 record and 5.86 ERA between the rotation and bullpen.
“Corcino got to Triple-A and found out the stuff that we’ve been trying to tell him that he had to do, and he wouldn’t do because of his success. You look around, you go, ‘I’m just dominating people, I’m throwing no-hitters, I don’t need to do that.’
“He got to Triple-A and went, ‘Wait a minute, I really do need to have to do that.’ He’s made some great adjustments and he’s really done a good job.”
Corcino bounced back with Pensacola in 2014, straightening out his delivery and improving his control. Of Corcino’s 26 appearances, 11 spanned six innings or more while allowing one run or fewer.
Brown expects Corcino to rejoin the Reds’ bullpen soon. Corcino made his debut on August 26, his 24th birthday, and logged 18.2 innings with a 0–2 record and 4.34 ERA.
