NOVEMBER 27: Hefner and the Mets are in agreement on a deal, per Heyman (Twitter link).
NOVEMBER 26: Twins assistant pitching coach Jeremy Hefner “is the Mets’ choice” to be their new pitching coach, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweets. SNY’s Andy Martino tweets that the deal isn’t quite yet finalized but could be by next week. If and when a deal is complete, Hefner will replace interim pitching coach Phil Regan, who stepped up when the club parted ways with veteran coach Dave Eiland back in June.
Hefner, still just 33 years old, pitched for the Mets as recently as 2012-13 but called his playing career quits after a 2016 run with the Cardinals’ Triple-A affiliate. He joined the Twins the following season as an advance scout. Hefner held that role for two seasons in Minnesota, helping to establish game plans for pitchers, devise defensive shifts and also use his experience as a recently retired player to best boil down data from the team’s analytics department for the players and coaching staff. Minnesota made Hefner its assistant pitching coach for the 2019 campaign, and that marks his lone season of experience on a Major League coaching staff to date.
Still, Hefner has been viewed as a rising star in the coaching ranks since latching on with the Twins and will seemingly get his first look at a top coaching spot with the only team for which he ever pitched at the MLB level. Hefner’s embracing of newer data and his recent experience as a player has become an increasingly desirable skill set for clubs both in terms of managerial and coaching searches.
Assuming the agreement does indeed go through, Hefner will be the second member of the Twins coaching staff to be hired away by another club this winter. Hitting coach James Rowson has already been plucked away by Miami, and it’s still possible that bench coach Derek Shelton could be hired as the next manager of the Pirates. Minnesota elevated an internal replacement, Edgar Varela, for Rowson yesterday.
MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo writes that the Mets plan to formally announce their new-look coaching staff all at once — perhaps sometime next week.
It seems to happen quite a lot with retired players, but could you please link to Hefner’s B-R page?
Sure. Done.
Just don’t usually bother running our auto-linker script when not writing about active players (hence the omission here).
Yeah, right. That guy will keep the Mets pitching staff in good shape and fix Edwin Diaz. How could anyone believe that? Look at his face. JUST LOOK AT HIS FACE!!
I hear his dad Hugh had a great delivery with a lot of stamina.
Started and finished every game he appeared in
Never ran out of juice.
I have a lot of stamina and I never run out of juice either.
-sulks off, having come here to make, more or less, this very comment.-
Awww. Don’t go away, Rod.
Can you come again?
Hugh-ge news.
How is he gonna teach guys to pitch when he never knew how to pitch himself.
Because pitching talent doesn’t automatically make somebody a good pitching coach. Look at the current pitching coaches for every playoff team from last season – how many of them were great pitchers? One of the best modern pitching coaches (Dave Duncan) wasn’t even a pitcher.
Don’t know why I’m even justifying this bonehead comment with a response, and gameofdegroms nailed it anyway, but: in baseball, as in every sport, results don’t correlate with understanding. Hefner knew how to pitch, just couldn’t execute, because but everyone is as talented as others. Likewise, there have been plenty of successful players who turn into awful coaches.
Not having much natural talent and having to get where you got through sheer determination and hard work, yeah, what a lame attribute for a coach
Lol nice
Because those who can’t do, teach.
exactly
And those who can’t teach, teach gym.
You do know he had tommy john surgery twice. Practically one right after the other because he got re-injured ..and he could never get back to where needed.ever hear of dave duncan? Guy was a catcher. Al jackson? Guy had losing record,was pitching coach for close to 50 yrs.. list goes on and on
Hefner was done in by injuries – 2 TJ surgeries he was never able to come back
from – not underperformance. In fact, he had 2 very useful seasons as a BOR starter for the Mets in ‘12 and ‘13. It was a shame to see him done in by the injuries, he was always an underdog fan favorite, and I personally am extremely happy to see him get the gig. He never had much to work with in the way of stuff, but parlayed that into good results anyway. Maximizing pitchers’ stuff is what a pitching coach is meant to do, and Hefner seems uniquely qualified to do just that.
Those who can’t, teach. Right? Lol..33 is young. Interesting dynamic with him and Beltran being so young and inexperienced as coach/manager
It’ll be interesting to see how they work together in 2021 when Beltran is allowed on a major league field again, har har har
Hey nimmo. Good point.
The other common thread is CHEAP CONTRACT.
I see his strengths. He understands the analytics and can explain then to pitchers and help the manager make decisions based on them. He should be strong making a game plan and knowing when to replace a pitcher and whom to bring in. Beyond decision-making, pitchers coaches need to understand execution and how to correct all those problems with “mechanics” that prevent pitchers from executing. Analytic may be able to tell what pitches a pitcher is throwing well on a given day and what he isn’t, though most major league pitchers and catchers should be able to figure that out with a few warm-ups. High speed cameras and computers can only go so far in that respect, so I hope that Hefner knows how to help a struggling pitcher correct in-game. De Grom can do it for himself after several years of complaining in post-game interviews about mechanical issues. Syndergaard clearly has not found that ability and needs a coach to be able to not only evaluate what he is doing right and wrong to get him to execute correctly. We’ll see what Hefner can do.
Hey Marc-you have no clue. Wishful
Thinking creates huge disappointments in June.
The Mets are absolutely dominating the off season coaching hires. I smell World Series!!!
No, that’s Flushing Bay.
There it is!
Saved for later.
Hey JWR-you have your head in the wrong toilet bowls. In Flushing there is a foul odor. That smells June disappointment.
Saw him hit a homer off Joe Blanton at Citi Field in 2012 in his first MLB win, lol.
Great – yet another coach/manager with no actual experience for the position he is being hired. Keep hiring all these analytics guys and then wonder why no one can fix mechanical breakdown or adjust physical/mental/emotional situations that inevitably arise.
Not to mention this will be the 4th (?) pitching coach the Mets have utilized in just over two years now? Don’t they think that a pitcher like deGrom, Syndergaard, Diaz, Familia, Matz, Stroman – all pitchers who obviously have all star caliber ability, would listen and apply the teachings of someone who had actually HAD success? Someone who when he speaks, they might go, “Hey, when this guy talks, we should listen!”, rather than, “Hey, here comes Coach with his tablet and binder! I can’t wait to see what he’s going to teach us so we get out of this slump.”
(Sigh) The answer to getting into Diaz, Matz, Stroman and Syndergaard’s heads does not exist in some analytical data chart.
Not saying the technological big picture isn’t part of success, just not the FIRST part.
To be honest and fair, any Mets pitcher not named deGrom needs to be listening. Last I checked, ain’t none of them consistently putting up anything that would justify them not listening. The media, the Mets PR department, and Mets fans can’t pitch for them to perform like the hype granted upon them. They need to get it done or they’ll continue to be the most overrated pitching staff in recent memory…spanning at least over the last four decades.
Cool story. Keep replying on the Mets with your amazing analytical insights.
How the Marlins still doing as the NL East joke?
Oh Port. Are you fat, lazy or dumb.
Picking on a Marlins fan?
Come on. With the WS Champ Nats and willing spender Phillies?
Open those clogged ears Port. Marlins have won a couple of times since 1986.
Repeat ten times and then humble yourself.
The Mets are a farce with a facade to sucker you into buying tickets.
It’s all about the money DUMMY.
Name calling, willing spender Phillies and 1986. Sounds like your analysis is just as sound.
You have sound analysis? Self proclaimed of course.
Your name is familiar though::
Port O Potti-Does your family build portable bathrooms for construction sites?
If you’d stopped after the first sentence, this would have been a good post.
Hey Jim. Time to change teams to avoid disappointment. Maybe the Orioles AAA team has better prospects.
Excellent and funny post
I remember this guy having one really promising half a season before getting hurt.
Then an entire season in the minors trying to recover.
It was 2 promising partial seasons, but yea, injuries tanked his career. Glad he’s made it back as a ML coach at such a young age.
another coach with no experience Mets owners want to be out of the race by June so they can trade at the deadline and next winter