Cubs Coach Surviving Another Manager Change
This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, but we haven’t seen much coaching news when it comes to who Craig Counsell will be keeping around from David Ross’ previous staff. Cubs fans have been expecting that pitching coach Tommy Hottovy would be sticking around and according to the Chicago Sun-Times that appears to be the case.
Hottovy has been in the Cubs organization since 2013, when he was first signed to a minor league deal in December that included an invite to spring training the following year. The left-handed pitcher had made it up to the majors in 2011 and 2012, but his playing career came to an end following the 2014 season. However, the Cubs hired Hottovy to be the team’s Run Prevention Coordinator heading into 2015 and he hasn’t left Chicago since.
Following the 2018 season, the Cubs promoted Hottovy and named him the new pitching coach under Joe Maddon. After the Cubs decided to move on from Maddon as their manager, Hottovy remained as the pitching coach with David Ross taking over in the dugout. Now, with Counsell coming in as the highest-paid manager in MLB history, Hottovy is expected to return in 2024.
According to Cubs beat reporter Maddie Lee, hitting coach Dustin Kelly, who took over the role in 2023, will also be back along with Hottovy. It also sounds like there won’t be too many changes overall from Ross’ coaching staff.
Via the Chicago Sun-Times.
The expectation, sources told the Sun-Times, is that hitting coach Dustin Kelly and pitching coach Tommy Hottovy will return. The rest of the staff remains in limbo. Given the point in the offseason and the performance of the coaching staff last season, however, it’s unlikely that there will be sweeping changes.
That being said, there have been a handful of coaching changes this offseason, both before Counsell replaced Ross and after.
Back in October, the Cubs moved on from game strategy coach Craig Driver and bullpen coach Chris Young. Driver and Young were both hired away from the Philadelphia Phillies following the 2019 season and had worked under Ross since 2020.
This past weekend two more coaches left the Cubs. Bench coach Andy Green was offered a spot to return, but he chose to leave and join the front office of the New York Mets. Meanwhile, assistant hitting coach Johnny Washington was hired as the new hitting coach for the Los Angeles Angels.