re: I thought we got an amazing MLB pitching coach

The issue I have with the state of our pitching this year and why I’m willing to put some of the blame on WJ comes down to several names on this team: Cooper, Floyd, Dutton, Hellmers are all performing objectively worse than last year.

Last season was not great by our standards, but we did still find some success, and every one of the guys mentioned above played a part. None of them were phenomenal, but for the most part they were serviceable. Floyd has the stuff but is prone to mental blowups. Cooper has taken a noticeable step backwards with command and is getting hit around more. Dutton went from starting 11 games last year to his ERA increasing nearly a full run. Hellmers has gotten worse each year after what looked like a very promising freshman season.

I thought about lumping Money in with that group, but he has actually put up very similar numbers to last year. While he was never spectacular, he did win some games as a weekend starter, pitched fairly well and seemed like a great candidate to take a step forward with a new and improved pitching coach. Instead he has remained largely the same and been forced to take a step back while the other guys suck it up.

The only real success story this year has been Skenes. Edwards and Shores both got off to great starts and the injuries certainly hurt us, but I cannot make any excuses for WJ when considering the fact that five of our notable pitchers from last year have performed comparatively worse this season.