Sometimes, teams may need to make some changes with the coaching staff.
Sometimes, those changes will take place in the middle of the season if they are completely necessary.
But a coach leaving a first-place team voluntarily in the middle of the season for a college gig is unprecedented and rare.
Wes Johnson, who had been the pitching coach for the Minnesota Twins, is set to leave his post as the Twins pitching coach and take on the same role for LSU’s baseball team.
Jeff Passan, ESPN’s top baseball insider, tweeted the news about Johnson’s departure and appeared just as shocked as the rest of us.
This is a first: A big league pitching coach leaving a first-place team for a college job in the middle of the MLB season. https://t.co/gwAmlgdRPP
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) June 26, 2022
An Unprecedented Departure
When was the last time a major league coach left his post in the middle of the season, with a first-place team nonetheless, and took on a job with a college team?
That’s certainly a first and that is something the Twins are going to need to address.
Johnson will continue to serve as the Twins pitching coach through Thursday’s game against the Cleveland Guardians before officially leaving to serve as LSU’s pitching coach.
This is a shocking turn of events, and the Twins are going to need to find somebody to fill the role sooner rather than later.
But the thing that nobody can get over is the fact that he’s leaving a first-place team in the middle of the season to take on a college gig, especially when the Twins are having a good year on the pitching front, boasting an ERA of 3.78, which is seventh in the American League.
Different strokes for different folks is the only way to put it.
We’ll see how the shock affects the Twins.
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