It came as a shock when Phillies pitching coach Bryan Price called it a career after just 1 season into his 3-year contract. Price looked to be a revelation for the Phillies. In his eventful career, he started as the pitching coach of the 2001 Seattle Mariners – only the winningest team in baseball history.
He did well with the Arizona Diamondbacks as the pitching coach for their staff. This eventually led to his appointment as manager of the Cincinnati Reds. Which led to things like this.
Price’s legacy with the Phillies will most likely be his effect on Phillies starters. In 2020, the Phillies had the 10th best ERA in the majors with a 4.08 mark.
After about a month-long search, the Phils have officially announced the signing of Caleb Cotham as the new pitching coach.
Cotham is 33 years old and played at the major league level as recently as 2016. If 33 years old sounds young to you, it is. Cotham will be the youngest pitching coach in Phillies history according to team historian Larry Shenk.
Like Bryan Price, Cotham will be coming over from the Reds organization. Cotham was named the Reds assistant pitching coach before the 2019 season. He was named Director of Pitching following the end of the 2019 campaign.
Cotham drew rave reviews from 2020 NL Cy Young winner Trevor Bauer.
“Caleb was really helpful with a lot of the technical stuff. I haven’t really had that situation before where I have someone that I respect from the technological standpoint, the really nitty-gritty pitch shaping and understanding the mechanics and how the ball was moving and stuff like that. It was good to have someone to bounce those ideas off of and have those conversations.”
Trevor Bauer
The hardest task for Cotham coming to the Phillies will be working with a bullpen that posted a 7.06 ERA last season. If the Phillies want any chance of making the playoffs that will have to improve.
Photo by Joshua Sarner/Icon Sportswire
