Managerial changeup: Pitching coaches can apply

If pitching is 90 percent of the game, as some say, why is it that pitching coaches and former pitchers get tossed a virtual shutout when they want to become baseball managers?

When a former catcher applies for a managerial job, hey, that’s great. He saw the whole field from behind the plate.

Utility infielders? Why not? They spent most of their careers on the bench observing.

But pitchers? Hey, get back to the bullpen mound where you belong.

When it comes to pitchers and pitching coaches, there seems to be a pane of glass ceiling they can’t seem to break with regularity.

“No question,” said Larry Rothschild, pitching coach of the New York Yankees and former pitching coach of the Cubs. “There are a lot of stereotypes out there, no question about it.”

The notion of a pitcher or pitching coach wanting to become a manager has been in the news recently with Mike Maddux interviewing for the Cubs’ opening.

Maddux, 50, was a journeyman major-league pitcher who has enjoyed a successful career as a pitching coach, guiding the Milwaukee Brewers’ staff into the playoffs in 2008 and Texas Rangers pitchers into back-to-back World Series the last two seasons.

When Maddux met the media after his job interview, he was asked about the apparent oddity of going from pitching coach to manager.

Of the 30 managers who opened the 2010 season, only two were former pitchers: San Diego’s Bud Black and Toronto’s John Farrell.

“I think Tommy Lasorda was a pitcher,” Maddux said, referring to the legendary Dodgers skipper. “Larry Dierker, he was a pretty good pitcher, too. Buddy Black. John Farrell. I’m sure there were more along the way who were pitchers that led teams.

“I just think in the current game, good baseball people are baseball people. We come from different tools of the trade.”

Indeed there have been pitchers and pitching coaches who’ve had success as big-league managers.

Roger Craig led the Giants to the NL West crown in 1987 and into the 1989 World Series. Dierker managed the Houston Astros to first place in four of the five years he managed.

Rothschild has carved out a nice career as a pitching coach, but he also was the first manager of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays when they began play in 1998. With an expansion team on a low budget, Rothschild didn’t have much of a chance, and he was fired early in the 2001 season.

Asked about the “stereotypes” he mentioned, he cited a key one.

“It’s not having played the game on the field every day at any level,” he said. “There are different perceptions, like not having played in the major leagues, and the results are opposite when you look at who has been successful.

“I think it’s more of an individual thing. Not everybody who played on the field can be a good manager, and not everybody who pitched can be a good manager. It’s about handling people. It’s about running the game and handling people in the locker room.”

Some pitching coaches, such as Maddux, might be victims of their own success, with teams perhaps thinking they’ve found their calling as coaches, not managers.

But the Cubs are very interested. Maybe it’s the perspective a former pitcher brings. Or maybe it was the 4.33 team ERA Cubs pitchers turned in this year, making their staff the third-worst in the National League.

“It is a different perspective,” said Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer. “I was with Bud Black the last two years in San Diego. The game is so much about pitching, pitching and defense. For the most part, teams that win have really good pitching.

“From my experience in San Diego, I thought the relationship between Bud Black, (pitching coach) Darren Balsley and (bullpen coach) Darrel Akerfelds was almost like having three pitching coaches.

“Buddy also did a terrific job of leading the position players. My sense of Mike (Maddux) is that he’d do the same thing. But a lot of the game is about preparation. A lot of the game is about pitching and defense.

“Right now you’ve got Bud Black and John Farrell as excellent managers who were pitching coaches, and I think that trend is something you’ll probably see continue down the road.”

For his part, Maddux seems comfortable in his own skin.

“I’m very happy with what I do,” he said. “I enjoy what I do. I’m administrating to half the team in spring training, during the season. This was something where people reached out to me. It wasn’t something where I reached out to other people. I think it’s kind of cool to be considered.”

If Maddux does get the Cubs’ job, he’d have to hire a pitching coach (with his brother Greg being a name mentioned often by fans and media).

Mike Maddux joked about what he’d want in a pitching coach.

“What would I look for in a pitching coach and what would I want out of a pitching coach?” he asked. “Somebody who could put up with my second-guessing.

“I would want somebody who’s honest, somebody who shares the work ethic and the passion. I think it always comes down to passion and work ethic.

“If you really enjoy what you’re doing, you’re going to do a better job at it. You’ve got to do it for the right reasons. Somebody who has to be flexible with personalities.

“In a nutshell, somebody who’s done it at the major-league level, who’s competed at the major-league level. I think you get instant credibility with your players when that happens.”

As for Rothschild, he has toyed with the idea of managing again, but he seems OK if it doesn’t happen again.

“I haven’t spent a lot of time thinking about it,” he said. “The competitor in me would like to have a chance to get it right, and I still feel like that.

“But that’s part of the game. If it doesn’t happen again, I’m not going to worry about it.”

bmiles@dailyherald.com