The Minnesota Twins have officially made their hires to the coaching staff. In the wake of moving on from pitching coach Pete Maki, the Twins are hiring Brian Reith as their new pitching coach. The Twins also hired Ben Myers as assistant athletic trainer, elevating him from AAA St. Paul.
About the Reith Hire
The Twins did the right thing and made an external hire. For the past five seasons, Reith has been the pitching coach for the Triple-A Durham Bulls, an affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays, who thanks in large part to their pitching, is in the American League Championship Series.
Under Reith, the Bulls had one of the best pitching staffs, issuing the fewest walks and having a top-five ERA across all Triple-A teams.
When Maki was fired, I mentioned that the Twins needed someone who understood and used analytics in a really sound way to get buy-in from players, epsecially young players. It's almost like the Twins read my story because that is exactly what they got in Reith. He's going to use analytics, but in a super good and digestible way, like he did in the Tampa orginization.
It should be no secret to anyone at this point that the Rays are a top team in terms of pitching development. They can turn to Triple-A at any time, and it seems like the next player up for the Rays is an outstanding prospect.
To pry a coach away from an organization with that pedigree in terms of coaching is really good. And his mentor, Kyle Snider, is regarded as a top pitching coach in the sport.
One thing should be noted. This will be the first time Reith is on the MLB staff for any team. It should not be that huge of an adjustment for Reith, especially with the amount of young talent the Twins have either in their rotation now or in the pipeline.
There is no doubt that the hiring of Reith makes the pitching department better. He's coming from somewhere where pitching is valued and developed well, and the Twins are going to benefit from the changes Reith brings to the team and the department in general.
A home run hire.
Elevation of Ben Myers
This was simple for the Twins. Myers had been in the organization for eight years, most recently with the St. Paul Saints since 2022. With the amount of youth the Twins have on their roster, elevating Myers, someone whom they are familiar with, made more sense than hiring someone from the outside.
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