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Tigers Hire Robin Lund As Assistant Pitching Coach

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The Tigers continue to add to their personnel, this time plucking Iowa pitching coach Robin Lund to work as an assistant pitching coach, reports Kendall Rogers of D1Baseball. The team has not confirmed the move. Lund had previously worked with Detroit’s pitching coach Chris Fetter and led one of the best collegiate pitching staffs. Evan Woodbery of MLive Media Group adds that Tigers’ bullpen coach Juan Nieves, who has the title of assistant pitching coach, is expected to return to the team and that manager A.J. Hinch had said that the Tigers might be flexible in how they fill out coaching roles for 2023.

Lund joins the Tigers after five seasons at Iowa. During the 2021-2022 season, the pitching staff ranked third in strikeouts per nine innings (11.2), fourth in ERA (3.72), and 11th in WHIP (1.29). Over the last seasons, seven Hawkeye pitchers have joined MLB organizations under Lund’s watch.

Lund’s most recent success story is South Dakota State transfer Adam Mazur who was named the Big Ten Pitcher of the Year after going 7-3 with a 3.07 ERA in 93 2/3 innings with 98 strikeouts. Mazur led a quartet of Hawkeyes selected in the 2022 MLB Draft, going in the second round (53rd overall) to the Padres.

Perhaps most notable for the Tigers is Lund’s kinesiology experience. Lund holds a Doctorate of Exercise Science and was an associate professor in the Department of Kinesiology at UNI from 2002-2018 studying biomechanics, anatomy, statistics, and research methods with a research focus on improving athletic performance. Last season, only one Tigers pitcher reached 20 starts, Tarik Skubal, with Tyler Alexander, Eduardo Rodriguez, Beau Brieske, and Matt Manning all missing time due to injuries.

Lund will work with a staff that pitched to a collective 4.05 ERA (10th highest), with a 19.8% strikeout rate (6th lowest) and 8.5% walk rate (12th highest).

COVID Notes: 4/8/21

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Some good news on the COVID front today…

  •  Tigers’ pitching coach Chris Fetter was cleared to rejoin the team, per the Athletic’s Cody Stavenhagen (via Twitter). Fetter tested positive for coronavirus at the end of March, and he’s been away from the team since. He will re-join the club for their upcoming series in Cleveland.
  • Spencer Turnbull is throwing and will soon move to the Tigers’ alternate site, tweets Stavenhagen. When he does return, the Tigers could consider moving to a six-man rotation. Turnbull developed a bit of a niche following this offseason as a guy with some breakout potential, but that was obviously tempered somewhat when news broke of his positive test on March 20th. The Tigers will be glad to welcome him back to the rotation.

COVID Notes: 3/30/21

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The latest on coronavirus-related situations around the sport…

  • The Astros announced that Myles Straw, Abraham Toro, and Garrett Stubbs have rejoined the team after clearing COVID-19 protocols.  (MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart was among those to report the news.)  The trio were absent for contract-tracing purposes in the wake of another positive test within Houston’s camp.
  • Matt Barnes’ positive COVID-19 test over the weekend was determined to be a false positive or a non-infectious positive, and the reliever has been cleared to return to Red Sox camp.  Barnes tested negative several times before being allowed to rejoin the team, and with only a few days of action missed, Barnes tells Julian McWilliams of the Boston Globe and other reporters that he is ready for Opening Day.
  • Tigers pitching coach Chris Fetter tested positive for COVID-19, manager A.J. Hinch told reporters (including MLB.com’s Jason Beck) yesterday.  Other coaches are out of camp while contact tracing and further tests are administered, though it appears to be somewhat precautionary, as Hinch said that “no one else — player, staff — has been impacted or affected by this.”  The Tigers have yet to decide who will act as on the on-field pitching coach while Fetter is quarantined.  Fetter is entering his first season with the organization after previously working as the University of Michigan’s pitching coach.

Tigers Hire Chris Fetter As Pitching Coach

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11:37 am: The Tigers have officially announced the hirings of Fetter and Nieves. Additionally, quality control coach Josh Paul and base coach Ramon Santiago will return to the staff, per the team.

9:06 am: Detroit is also set to hire Juan Nieves as assistant pitching coach, reports Cody Stavenhagen of the Athletic (via Twitter). Previously a member of the White Sox, Red Sox and Marlins’ MLB staffs, Nieves had most recently been pitching coach for Detroit’s Triple-A affiliate in Toledo.

8:05 am: The Tigers are hiring Chris Fetter as their pitching coach, reports Jon Morosi of MLB Network (Twitter link). The 34-year-old had been in the same position at the University of Michigan, one of the better Division I programs in the country. He’ll replace Rick Anderson, who had been on the Detroit staff since 2017 but was expected to depart after former manager Ron Gardenhire retired.

Fetter will become the first addition to new skipper A.J. Hinch’s staff in Detroit. He joins a growing rank of young, data-oriented pitching coaches making the jump from the top of the college ranks into pro ball. Reds’ pitching coach Derek Johnson was on the staff at Vanderbilt before taking a position in the Cubs’ system in 2012. He parlayed his stint as a Chicago minor-league pitching coordinator into eventual big league coaching jobs with the Brewers and Reds. Twins pitching coach Wes Johnson, meanwhile, made the jump directly from college to an MLB staff when he was hired away from the University of Arkansas in 2018.

Fetter himself interviewed for the Yankees’ pitching coach position last offseason. He also reportedly drew the attention of the Mets and Giants over the winter. He does have some experience coaching in pro ball, working in the Padres’ organization earlier this decade. As Morosi notes, that stint overlapped with Hinch’s time in the San Diego front office.

The hiring is also notable for one of the Tigers’ divisional rivals. Morosi points out that some in the White Sox’s front office thought he’d be the best fit for their pitching coach vacancy. Instead, he’ll take the same position in Detroit, where he’ll be tasked with guiding the development of top young arms like Casey Mize, Tarik Skubal and Matt Manning.

NL West Notes: Padres, Cordero, Giants, Fetter, Dodgers

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Padres GM AJ Preller spoke to reporters at the GM Meetings in Arizona yesterday, with a few interesting notes on the club’s current roster concerns. While Preller didn’t unequivocally dispel rumors of Luis Urias’ availability on the trade market, he did offer that he sees “a lot of scenarios” in which the youngster is starting in the middle infield in 2020 (as noted in an article from Dennis Lin of The Athletic). Meanwhile, catcher Francisco Mejia is “very much in the catching equation” for the club next year, and team officials still feel like Austin Hedges can “swing the bat a lot better than he did [in 2019]”.

Preller also shared that the club is expected to retain second bagger Greg Garcia and that the club’s catching depth is “an area we get hit on” from other teams. Taken together, these comments don’t provide much clarity with regard to the team’s plans at catcher and second, but could be seen as typical of an executive staring down an offseason that offers a dizzying number of potential routes toward club improvement.

More from the NL West…

  • Another one of Preller’s many touted young players, outfielder Franchy Cordero, tweaked a glute muscle while rehabbing at the team’s complex in Arizona this week. As reported by AJ Cassavell of MLB.com (link), the injury is not expected to be overly serious but should delay the 25-year-old’s participation in the Dominican Winter Leagues. Padres fans know well the extent to which Cordero has been limited in recent years by injuries, as a chronic elbow issue acted in concert with a quad injury to rob him of the majority of his 2019 season. Cordero, a lefty-swinging outfielder capable of playing center, fits exactly the type of player the Padres have been rumored to be in pursuit of this offseason, though he has been limited to just 79 major league games since debuting in 2017.  For what it’s worth, Preller still characterized Cordero as, “One of the more talented and physically gifted players in the league in terms of a speed/power combo.”
  • The Giants are considering University of Michigan coach Chris Fetter for their pitching coach vacancy, according to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle (link). As noted previously, Fetter was a considered as a candidate for the Mets’ pitching coach opening. Fetter, a former ninth-round pick of the Padres back in 2009, previously spent time as a coach in the Dodgers system while new Giants manager Gabe Kapler was serving as the Los Angeles director of player development.
  • Speaking of L.A., Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman reiterated the club’s plans to use Julio Urias in the rotation next season, as noted in a tweet from Jorge Castillo of the Los Angeles Times (link). Friedman currently projects to use Urias, Clayton Kershaw, Walker Buehler, and Kenta Maeda in the rotation, while Ross Stripling will “have a chance” to compete for a spot. The perennial NL West champs have also been connected to a number of high-profile starting pitchers this offseason (Gerrit Cole included), and starter Rich Hill has expressed a strong desire to return to the Dodgers.  The team also has Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May on hand as starting options, with Pedro Moura of The Athletic (link) relaying that the club still views May as a big league starter moving forward despite his late-season 2019 deployment from the bullpen.

Yankees Interview Chris Fetter, Matt Hobbs For Pitching Coach Vacancy

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9:09 am: The Yankees are also set to interview Arkansas pitching coach Matt Hobbs today, reports Kendall Rogers of D1Baseball (via Twitter). Hobbs was Johnson’s replacement in Fayetteville. Like Fetter, he’s a young, technologically-savvy coach from a major college program. Rogers adds that he expects the Yankees to continue looking into candidates from the amateur ranks.

7:58 am: The Yankees have interviewed University of Michigan pitching coach Chris Fetter in their search to fill the same position, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN (via Twitter). Fetter has drawn “significant interest” from other MLB clubs, including the crosstown Mets, Passan adds, although it’s unclear if he has formally interviewed with any other organization.

After the Yankees fired veteran pitching coach Larry Rothschild Monday, speculation arose that the organization could target a younger voice to modernize their approach to game preparation. Fetter, 33, would certainly fit the bill. He was a ninth-round draft choice out of Michigan in 2009 and has been on staff in Ann Arbor for the last two seasons.

Between his minor-league playing career and return to his alma mater in a coaching capacity, Fetter took on a variety of roles in both the pro and amateur ranks. After hanging up the spikes, he spent some time coaching in the Padres’ organization. Thereafter, he worked as a scout for the Angels for two years before spending one year coaching pitchers at Ball State University. Between Ball State and Michigan, Fetter spent one year as the Dodgers’ minor league pitching coordinator, so he’s not devoid of experience working with pro arms.

Fetter’s involvement in the Yankees’ search, regardless of whether or not he gets the position, highlights the blurring of lines leaguewide between the amateur and professional ranks. Most notably, the Twins hired Wes Johnson as pitching coach from the University of Arkansas last offseason (with great success, if the team’s performance is any indication). While Johnson remains the person to make the leap directly from college to MLB pitching coach, numerous others have moved from the college ranks to take on various roles within MLB organizations in recent years.

Fetter’s pitching staff helped the Wolverines advance to the College World Series finals in 2019. Left-hander Tommy Henry and right-hander Karl Kauffmann were second-round selections of the Diamondbacks and Rockies, respectively, in June’s amateur draft. Right-hander Jeff Criswell, meanwhile, was an all-Big Ten performer as a sophomore and may join Henry and Kauffmann as a relatively high pick in 2020.

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