The Kansas City Royals announced a crucial hire for their coaching staff for the 2023 season.
They are adding former Cleveland Guardians bullpen coach Brian Sweeney to take over as their pitching coach, replacing Cal Eldred.
Eldred couldn’t get the best of a promising group of young Royals starters this past few years.
Only Brady Singer (3.23 ERA) performed well: Daniel Lynch (5.13 ERA), Jackson Kowar (9.77 ERA), and Kris Bubic (5.58 ERA) struggled badly.
To remedy the situation, the Royals are bringing in a coach in Sweeney who is trained to take advantage of tech resources and cutting-edge trends and approaches in the art of pitching.
“Thank you for your contributions to our organization and in the community, Brian! Best of luck in KC,” the Guardians tweeted, bidding farewell to their former coach.
Thank you for your contributions to our organization and in the community, Brian!
Best of luck in KC. pic.twitter.com/qFKUAyKhv5
— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) December 1, 2022
Sweeney, who is 48 years old, pitched in MLB from 2003 to 2010, with an appearance in the Nippon Baseball League sandwiched in between those years.
His First Shot As A Pitching Coach
His coaching career started with the Philadelphia Phillies’ rookie league team in 2015, and he was named the pitching coach for their Single-A affiliate Lakewood BlueClaws in 2016 and 2017.
Near the end of 2017, the Guards brought in Sweeney as a major league coach.
He was promoted to bullpen coach on October 31, 2019, a position he occupied until today.
The Royals are giving him his first chance to be in charge of an MLB organization’s pitching.
He is eager to show he has what it takes to come up with a plan to improve the Royals’ lousy pitching.
The Royals had the fourth-worst ERA in baseball this past season, with 4.72.
If they want to move closer to contention in 2023, that just can’t happen again.
They hope Sweeney can help.
