Diamondbacks Reportedly Hiring Brent Strom as Pitching Coach

Recent reports indicate that Brent Strom will not be retiring after all. Instead, the man who served as the pitching coach for the Houston Astros from 2014-2021 will be taking his talents to Arizona to serve as their new pitching coach. He remains the oldest pitching coach in the game. He also remains a pitching coach with a very long track record of success and reputation for successfully managing to marry both modern analytics and old-school pitching approaches. During his time as the pitching coach for the Astros, Strom coached two Cy Young winners, Dallas Keuchel (2015) and Justin Verlander (2019). In addition, he is credited with helping Gerrit Cole improve remarkably after he was acquired from the Pirates, unlocking a great deal of the potential that had been roiling just below the surface. He also received high praise from Charlie Morton for helping Morton unlock his fullest potential.

The fact that Strom makes his offseason home in Tucson may have helped the Diamondbacks’ chances of luring Strom out of retirement. It may also have helped that the Diamondbacks are on the verge of debuting a number of talented arms, giving Strom a young, fresh crop of talented pitchers to mold and help find success.

Two pitchers that seem locks to be on the 26-man roster, Corbin Martin and J.B. Bukauskas already have some familiarity with Strom. It does not seem unreasonable to hope that Strom can use that familiarity to help them recover from their injury-plagued 2021 seasons and to find that next level of performance that will help the pair of them stick at the MLB level.

There will be more to come I am sure as details begin to come out or once the organization holds it inevitable presser to announce the move.