Derek Johnson to be in charge of developing Cubs’ pitching prospects – MLB News
The Chicago Cubs, along with some big Major League moves, will now have Derek Johnson as the in charge of developing the Cubs’ pitching prospects. Being once the Vanderbilt University's pitching coach, Johnson epitomizes excellence, winning him attention
and admiration.
He is expected to instil competitive skills in the Minor League pitchers. In times when the Cubs are focusing the rebuilding phase, the Minor League moves such as this can go a long way to determine the team’s success.
It took Cubs quite a while to lure away this pitching coach since he had – in the previous occasions turned down head coaching jobs. The reason cited was to play directly with players. As the Cubs’ minor league pitching coordinator, nonetheless, will be
an altogether different experience for him.
To his credit, Johnson had developed Cy Young winner David Price. Not only that, he has helped develop five other pitchers as well at Vanderbilt. Himself a left-hander, he was a follower of the Cubs in Central Illinois and was an All-Mid-Continent Conference
pitcher at Eastern Illinois.
At a time when the Cubs have brought in four starters for the roster only in the duration of one month, focus on Johnson will be great since he has the mentorship responsibilities.
Johnson, among other things, has a workable plan to help the team get what it wants in the long term as far as effective pitchers are concerned.
"In college it is 15 guys,'' Johnson said. "You take those 15 guys and do the best you can with them. I have a lot more guys to work with now, and I'm sure there will be a bit of difficulty there. There are more channels to go through, working alongside
other pitching coaches, but I don't think it will be that different. We'll still do things I thought worked in high school and college, the same kind of steps, progression to make him a better player.''
In the long run, it will be interesting to see how this decision and investment actually pay off as the Cubs brace themselves for the challenges lying ahead.
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