The Mets may be zeroing in on a replacement for Jeremy Hefner. Red Sox director of pitching Justin Willard is “emerging as the favorite” for the position, reports Will Sammon of The Athletic. Joel Sherman of the New York Post seconded Sammon’s report, writing that Willard is “poised to be named the Mets pitching coach.”
Willard has been with Boston since November 2024. He had previously worked in Minnesota as a pitching coach and coordinator. Willard got his coaching start in the college ranks, first as a graduate assistant at Concord University. He then spent seven years as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Radford University.
Boston brought in Willard to improve the organization’s pitching development. In a story written by Ian Browne of MLB.com ahead of his first season with the team, Willard said he has a “really simple” approach when it comes to his pitching philosophy. “Throw nasty stuff in the zone. You can have nasty stuff, but it’s not gonna be maximized if you’re not in the zone.” That plan could play well in New York. The Mets’ pitching staff ranked fourth in Stuff+ in 2025, but had the sixth-highest walk rate. The club finished 18th in ERA.
New York made a slew of coaching changes this offseason, including moving on from Hefner. He had spent the past six seasons with the team. After ranking 22nd in ERA in his first season, the Mets improved to ninth and then seventh under Hefner. They’ve been 15th or worse the past three years.
If he lands the gig, Willard will have plenty to work with in 2026. Top prospect Nolan McLean debuted in August and excelled over eight starts. He leads a young core that also includes Jonah Tong, Brandon Sproat, and Christian Scott. New York’s rotation was buoyed by veterans David Peterson, Clay Holmes, and Sean Manaea. The trio struggled over the final couple of months of the season as New York coughed up a playoff spot, but they should be reliable sources of innings next year until the youngsters can take over.
The main task for Willard, if he were to be hired, might be to get Kodai Senga back on track. The NPB import dominated in his first MLB season in 2023, posting a sub-3.00 ERA to go with a 29.1% strikeout rate. Shoulder and calf injuries cost Senga nearly all of 2024, but he looked to have returned to ace status to begin 2025. Senga allowed two earned runs or fewer in 12 of his first 13 starts to open the season. A hamstring injury cost him a month of action, and he couldn’t regain his form upon return. Senga stumbled to a 5.90 ERA over his final nine starts of the season. His walk rate ballooned to 12.7%. Miami tagged Senga for five earned runs on the final day of August, and New York demoted the struggling starter to Triple-A. Senga will likely be back with the big-league club in 2026, but he’ll need to perform better to hold on to his spot.
Willard Scott is popular with fair weather fans
Wow a guy who cares about throwing strikes. The whole Mets team couldn’t throw a strike and Hefner did nothing about it.
Stuff plus? Sounds like a discount chain
I was gonna say it sounded like the latest streaming service…
Download the latest episode of your favourite show on STUFF+
Yeah, Stuff Plus is located near Dan Flashes in the Shops at the Creek.
Senga’s problem was staying on the field, and not because of his arm. He had the best ERA in MLB until he hurt his hamstring at 1B.
Thanks to Pete doing his Mackey Sasser impersonation.
Yeah…that was unfortunate.
Seems weird to let Willard go here.
I wish him nothing but the best, but it seems weird. Isn’t this a lateral move? It’s not like a clear promotion, I guess I’m missing something obvious.
It’s probably different going from an organizational assignment to being assigned to THE MLB team. I’m guessing the salary, and responsibility, are going to dictate whether it’s a lateral, or a promotion.
I’d imagine Steve Cohen wasn’t opposed to spending a couple extra dollars to get him either.
pitching coach > player dev
Technically it would.be a promotion as he would take charge of the whole program.
This is one of those situations where so much changed so quickly in Boston – remember, Breslow was in charge of remaking the Cubs own pitching department – that its an open question how much this loss will hurt Sox development of young arms.
IIRC, he was one of breslow’s first hires. So how much of the renaissance in pitching development is on breslow vs his underlings? Sort of like the TB Rays braintrust only went so deep – obviously friedman was a huge part of it, and as lower level guys got poached, they were less well rounded and ready for the mainstream.
that and they rushed him back from the injury his rehab was 1 start that was 3 what seems very bad innings before being called up to the majors 3 runs in 3 innings with 2 wild pitches doesnt scream ready to me.
And in interviews he stated he was having trouble driving with his legs. I think the phrase he used was he “couldn’t feel the power” in his legs after he got back to the majors.
Never heard of him, typical Mets hire
Did you have someone in mind? Is being aware of a person’s resume a necessary qualification?
At least they have names and coach professional baseball players…
That you have never heard of him is a typical lack of knowledge of baseball staff around the league on your part.
With their magic pitching lab we’ve all seen reported on again and again and again, I’m surprised they even need a pitching coach.
Unfortunately they work in tandem.
Strikeouts, routine fly outs, and a pop out to an infielder is what the Dodgers have done all season long especially Betts. The Dodgers offense is a joke.
Hefner was pre-Stearns, so after the Mets pitching collapse in 2025 it makes sense that Stearns would make a change and bring in his own guy.
It’s not a Wizard. It’s a Willard!