Shockwaves were sent throughout the baseball world when it was learned that Wes Johnson, the pitching coach for the Minnesota Twins, would be leaving his position and taking a job with the Tigers of Louisiana State University.
Johnson will be taking the same job with LSU.
It’s certainly a first to have a coach leave a first-place team midseason and bolt for a college team.
The Twins and the entire sports world were shocked to learn of this news.
However, Johnson cleared the air a little bit and commented on his choice to leave the Twins, citing wanting to spend more time with his family as one of the key factors in his decision, as seen in the tweet below.
Wes Johnson said spending more time with his family was the primary factor in his decision to take the job with LSU.
"You don't ever hear anybody on their deathbed going, 'Man, I wish I'd have stuck it out to see if we'd won 101 and not done what's right for my family.'"
— Betsy Helfand (@betsyhelfand) June 27, 2022
Johnson Clears The Air
You can’t blame Johnson for wanting to spend just a little extra time with his family.
As he stated, you never hear people on their deathbeds regretting spending extra time with their families.
This job gets him a little bit closer to his family and gives him some more time to achieve that goal.
He will remain as the Twins pitching coach through Thursday’s series finale against the Cleveland Guardians before officially leaving his position.
It’s still a shock that he would leave a first-place team in the middle of the season, but his reasoning for doing so is an honorable one and it clears the air a little bit.
It’s a respectable decision by Johnson.
It’s not yet known who will replace Johnson as the Twins pitching coach, but the team will likely have some candidates lined up in the next couple of days.
We’ll see who those candidates end up being.
NEXT: Twins Reportedly Shocked Over A Coaching Departure