The Mets have exercised their 2022 option on the contract of pitching coach Jeremy Hefner. He’ll return in that same role next season.
“I’m extremely excited to continue working with this group and build on the systems and practices we’ve implemented,” Hefner said in a statement within today’s press release. “I saw a lot of development from the rotation and bullpen and am very optimistic for even more success from the pitching staff moving forward.”
There will be plenty of turnover within the Mets’ dugout even if Hefner’s return provides a small bit of continuity. Manager Luis Rojas was dismissed after two seasons at the helm — and has reportedly already interviewed for San Diego’s managerial vacancy — and the Mets have already informed the majority of the staff that it is free to pursue other opportunities. Bench coach Dave Jauss, first base coach Tony Tarasco, third base coach Gary DiSarcina, bullpen coach Ricky Bones, Major League field coordinator/catching coach Brian Schneider, and assistant pitching coach Jeremy Accardo are all counted among that group.
Hefner, however, has seemingly done enough to convince team president Sandy Alderson and owner Steve Cohen that he can be a key part of the organization’s future. It’s not yet clear who’ll ultimately be overseeing either the baseball operations staff or the dugout in 2022, as New York is on the hunt for both a president of baseball operations and a replacement for Rojas, but Hefner will continue working in a critical role with whoever is hired to fill those vacancies.
“Jeremy has done an outstanding job of working with the entire pitching staff and they’ve all benefitted from his leadership and expertise,” Alderson said in a statement of his own. “He has blended analytics with his knowledge to provide players with tools for individual and team success.”
The 2021 season was hardly a banner year for the Mets in any capacity, but the pitching staff was generally its strongest point — even in the wake of myriad injuries. Teams judge coaches and managers on far more than just the baseline results, of course, but the performance of the team’s staff was still likely a critical point in Hefner’s favor.
The Mets received only 92 innings from ace Jacob deGrom and saw only two pitchers — Marcus Stroman and Taijuan Walker — top 100 innings at all. Despite the injury issues, however, the club ranked ninth in the Majors with a 3.90 ERA, seventh with a matching 3.90 SIERA and sixth with a 16.9 K-BB%.
Hefner, who briefly pitched for the Mets in 2012-13, will now return for a third season as the team’s pitching coach. He joined the Twins organization as an advance scout not long after his playing career wrapped up, helping to develop game plans and devise defensive shifts with Minnesota pitchers. The Twins tabbed him as their assistant pitching coach in 2019, and after one season in that role, the Mets scooped him up and named him pitching coach for the 2020 season.
The manner in which Hefner collaborates with the eventual hires in the front office and throughout the remainder of the coaching staff will determine how long he’ll hold his current role, but it’s telling that he is, to this point, the only staff member whom the Mets have made sure to retain into next season.
Pitching isn’t really the problem good job retaining him
Lol
Healthy STARTING PITCHERS ARE….
True but is that the coach or the strength or medical staffs
Good job retaining what you had, since the team can’t get anyone to join from outside the organization
What an ignorant comment. You hate the Mets and you’re a fool, we know this now. The obsession some small minded folks have with hating on this team is surreal.
Yeah, wow. Such a bad organization that couldn’t lure Theo Epstein away from his great job, Billy Beane away from the team he runs and is part owner of, and Scott Harris away from his great job that he’s been hugely successful at. What a bunch of losers, right?
They’re shooting for the moon yet all of you ignorant haters get hysterical because they didn’t pull a massive score and sign them all. At least they’re trying, but I guess nothing beats the chance to sputter out OMG LOLMets!!!!!! for the ten billionth time but treating it like you’re the first.
I don’t think Hefner is a problem. The pitchers were good!… Just not healthy. Which as far as I know, isn’t his job
Maintaining a pitcher’s health is definitely part of the pitching coach’s responsibility. He needs to manage pitch counts, keep track of minor injuries the pitchers have and design the correct off-day throwing programs (mainly for the starters). Pitching coaches in the past have been blamed for wearing out pitchers by either letting them pitch too much early in the season (convincing the manager he is okay to stay in the game) or by having pitchers throw too much in between starts. While the main responsibility is still to maximize the pitcher’s effectiveness, maintaining the health of the pitcher is also an important aspect of the job, collaborating with the strength & conditioning coach or course.
Managers make the decisions on whether a pitcher continues to pitch or is pulled.
For years now FO and analytic people help to come up with the game plan which includes how many pitches the starter can throw, and who might be available to pitch later….and if so, how many pitches they can throw. But the decision remains the managers (he may have to pay for that later).
I’m not knocking him in any way, but I don’t understand why you would make any decisions like this prior to bringing in a New GM? Why not let this new person make those decisions and bring in their own team? Not saying he wouldn’t or couldn’t be one of them, but should be solely the new guys job to decide! ,Let the slate start clean. If you have had an issue you are trying to clean up and it seems to be a teamwide issue (Which this so obviously was) then bringing back any pieces of the old leadership seems to me like a future mistake! But What do I know?
I love Hef but agree. Shouldn’t the new manager get to decide who is on his coaching staff? Hef is great and think he’s the right guy, but still kind of weird.
Option was set to Expire
The key point. While in general it’s best to let the GM and manager pick a coaching staff, this makes a lot of sense.
And it’s not etched in stone. If the new GM/manager finds Hefner deplorable, they can always just fire him. It’ll cost money, but Steven has lots of money.
Probably would garner interest as a FA pitching coach, so worth locking him up early.
You’ve never seen someone so disappointed at an option being exercised than Hefner.
Thanks for reading Hefner’s mind for us, Kreskin.
Clown comment
Yeah, why would he want to stay with the only team he pitched professionally for who has treated him great, the team that he signed a contract to be a pitching coach for, his first such contract? Do you people even think before you post? Or is it a rush to squeeze out hatred as fast as possible no matter how thoughtless it is?
they finally realized nobody is coming to help.
Sabean will, as POBO.
This is just the beginning of what future historians will consider the “turning point” when the Mets go on their 22 straight World Championship run starting next year.
Sure
Hefner was the one bright spot of the coaching staff last year. Hire Shildt as the manager and let him pick the rest of his staff. If they really want to do Beltran a favor, they can make him their double a/triple a coach and see how he does there
I can’t believe as a long time Mets fan that I wake up to see the search for POBO and GM is going internal when you have Brian Sabian interested in the job?!
This Hefner stuff is a meaningless joke if the POBO is an internal hire?
Sandy doesn’t want anyone smarter than himself?!
I am sorry but if the Mets don’t hire someone from the outside like Sabian I am DONE with them and hope they lose 162 games straight! Enough is Enough with this clown circus. Bring on the clown music!
iNTERNAL OPTIONS!
WHEN A MAN WHO OVERSAW 3 WORLD SERIES WANTS TO BE METS POBO!
What a joke,”internal options”
Not surprised. This guy can really elevate the Mets pitching game and make it elite.
Whether or not he can make healthy elite pitchers remains to be seen.
Happy to read this. At least the pitchers will have some semblance of consistency in philosophy.
Now bring back Chili Davis!
Yea I like Chili. Should never have let him go.
He caught the blame for their horrendous start to the year. It’s unfortunate, but they really were abysmal to start the year.
So both the new general manager and new manager inherit the pitching coach whether they like it or not? I’ve got nothing against Hefner, but I find this situation rather odd.
His option was going to expire. This was a time-sensitive move.
Exec’s usually only care about having their own manager in place. Then they leave it up to him to pick his staff. Since the Mets have neither in place (POBO or manager), it made perfect sense to pick up his option as other organizations would have jumped at the opportunity to sign him.
A pitching coach is very important but it’s hard to judge them by the numbers alone as some inherit a very talented staff (like he did) while others inherit a dumpster fire and have to make incremental improvements.
@ Monkey’s Uncle;
You find the situation “odd”?
Did Dusty Baker pick his coaching staff when hired by the Astros?
Seems the pitching staff’s input might have had something to do with the decision. Players receptiveness to a coach’s input/processes & any positive results that follows speaks volumes.
On the flip side, if players don’t buy into what’s presented, it doesn’t take long for those calling the shots to hear about it.
Since I don’t have access to any insight on his abilities, it would be silly for me to comment on whether it’s a good move or not.
Mets are odd so this isn’t rather surprising. Gotta keep the wheels going on the circus train. Sure injuries are to blame but so is the actual coaching of said pitchers that lead to these injuries. End of the year stroman was rumored to be dealing with a “dead arm” walker slowed down, Peterson (sorry not sure of spelling) 2nd year struggles gets demoted, and etc are to be blamed on usage and not the trainers. Rushing deGrom back when it was pretty much too late anyway had to do with coaching as well as the trainers. Good luck finding an outside coach wanting any part of the pitching debacle going on in NY.
Haven’t heard the Stroman rumor but he had a fantastic year overall (which of course, you fail to mention). Walker ‘slowed down’ because he was pitching way over his head to start the year. In other words, he just regressed back to his normal self. Peterson is just not a good pitcher in general and had a great deal of luck in 2020 which ramped up some expectations. And I don’t think you can blame deGrom’s injuries on Hefner. It’s not Hefner’s decision to medically clear deGrom or when to use him.
But keep baselessly hating with your submoronic ‘circus train’ comments. That ‘pitching debacle’ in NY still managed a staff-wide 104 ERA+ despite 3/5 of the rotation (deGrom, Carrasco, Syndergaard) missing massive amounts of time due to injuries.
@ LarryJ4;
Great points! You’ve got me convinced.
Now I’m waiting for the Dodgers to fire Mark Prior.
The Mets new pitching coach is a Playboy