New Sox director of pitching Justin Willard

[Harry Hooper]

Cotillo:

the Red Sox have hired executive Justin Willard away from the Twins as the organization’s new “director of pitching.” Willard, who had spent six years with Minnesota (including the last three as minor league pitching coordinator) will work hand-in-hand with Breslow and Bailey in reframing the organization’s philosophy about everything that happens on the mound. Willard won’t be in uniform but he’ll be based in Boston as a high-ranking executive — and the first external front office addition Breslow has made since taking over.
...
The hiring of Willard is notable because it marks the third time in the last two months that the Red Sox have made a significant external hire on the pitching side of the organization. A large part of the club’s interest in Breslow was his success in developing pitchers in Chicago and Bailey was well-regarded after four years as the Giants’ pitching coach. Now, three of the top decision-makers in the pitching department will bring ideas from three different places.

 

[JM3]

I posted some stuff on Willard in the MiLB forum here:

https://sonsofsamhorn.net/index.php?threads/sox-minor-league-coaching-and-development-staff.41196/

Several Twins pitching development people have been poached in recent years & they seem to be doing something right.

Willard's philosophies seem to line up nicely with Breslow & Bailey, & I like that they are bringing in elements from 3 different orgs (kind of like what I proposed regarding a CBO search where they got a CBO from one successful org & a GM from another).

 

[CalSoxGal]

Interesting article in The Athletic about our new director of pitching.

https://theathletic.com/5141090/2023/12/18/red-sox-pitching-director-justin-willard?source=user-shared-article

Mentioning his plans for the next several months:

“What are the lowest hanging fruits that we can impact quickly, assess where we’re currently at and what the Red Sox have built out, and, ‘OK, do we need a complete overhaul or do we need minor tweaks.’ I’d prefer minor tweaks because those are much easier to impact people much more quickly.”

I found this interesting, since I seem to recall reading/hearing Breslow say sort of the opposite:

"One of Willard’s philosophies is that he’d rather have a pitcher with a premium 80-grade pitch and no command than a pitcher with mediocre stuff, but excellent command, with the idea that top-notch stuff can’t be beat. If a pitcher only relies on command he has to be perfect every time."

Of course, Breslow has a different job now, but between him, Willard, and Bailey, they've all had good success with pitching, which is encouraging.

 

[LogansDad]

I think that having three different and well respected guys, with three different approaches could actually be really useful in getting the most out of more players. Every single player has flaws, and if they are trying to get personnel in place who have tried and true practices for limiting different kinds of flaws, I think it can really make a difference.

Thanks for posting that article.

 

[Sin Duda]

And after reading that YY article in ESPN, I'd add his training methods as an augmentation to existing methods or as a fourth pillar (once we sign him).

 

[Petagine in a Bottle]

We got a Willard? It’s just a tip calculator, right?

 

[sezwho]

Interesting article in The Athletic about our new director of pitching.

https://theathletic.com/5141090/2023/12/18/red-sox-pitching-director-justin-willard?source=user-shared-article

Mentioning his plans for the next several months:

“What are the lowest hanging fruits that we can impact quickly, assess where we’re currently at and what the Red Sox have built out, and, ‘OK, do we need a complete overhaul or do we need minor tweaks.’ I’d prefer minor tweaks because those are much easier to impact people much more quickly.”

I found this interesting, since I seem to recall reading/hearing Breslow say sort of the opposite:

"One of Willard’s philosophies is that he’d rather have a pitcher with a premium 80-grade pitch and no command than a pitcher with mediocre stuff, but excellent command, with the idea that top-notch stuff can’t be beat. If a pitcher only relies on command he has to be perfect every time."

Of course, Breslow has a different job now, but between him, Willard, and Bailey, they've all had good success with pitching, which is encouraging.

Now that I’ve stared at the quote from Willard a bit, specifically the 80 grade comment, I think the pitching philosophies actually converge.

There have been more rigorous breakdowns done here of movement and spin rate, etc. but what I’ve taken is Breslow’s highest prize is pitching that works in the zone, with missing bats the best outcome of all.

I’m sure command and control are important, and expected number of innings is part of the calculation, but both Breslow and Willard may be hunting that 80 grade pitch(er) above other things.

 

[CalSoxGal]

Now that I’ve stared at the quote from Willard a bit, specifically the 80 grade comment, I think the pitching philosophies actually converge.

There have been more rigorous breakdowns done here of movement and spin rate, etc. but what I’ve taken is Breslow’s highest prize is pitching that works in the zone, with missing bats the best outcome of all.

I’m sure command and control are important, and expected number of innings is part of the calculation, but both Breslow and Willard may be hunting that 80 grade pitch(er) above other things.

Yes, I think you are right. I was a little hesitant to say "opposite"; I just remember Breslow saying something like command was harder to teach than some other things. I'm nowhere near as analytics-savvy as many on this board--I have to Google half the alphabet soup of acronyms that get thrown around--so can't contribute anything in that regard.

I do think it's a good sign that Breslow is open to working with a variety of perspectives, even if they're ultimately approaching the same end result from different angles. As long as the end result is good, reliable pitching, I personally don't care how they get there!