Pirates make surprisingly high-profile hire for assistant pitching coach job

After a relatively quiet start to the offseason, the Pittsburgh Pirates made not one, but two notable hires on their coaching staff Wednesday.

On the same day that they tabbed Matt Hague to fill the conspicuous hitting coach vacancy, the club also hired Brent Strom as an assistant pitching coach. The hire marks a major coup for Pittsburgh, as Strom is widely regarded as one of the brightest pitching minds in all of baseball. He spent the last three seasons as the pitching coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks after serving in the same role for the Houston Astros for eight seasons from 2014-21.

Strom's former pitching staffs have appeared in four of the last eight World Series, and his coaching success stories during his time in Houston include American League Cy Young winners Dallas Keuchel (2015) and Justin Verlander (2019).

Strom was dismissed from the Diamondbacks with a year remaining on his contract after the club's injury-plagued pitching staff experienced a backslide and posted the fourth-worst ERA (4.62) in the majors in 2024. The Pirates will hope that a change of scenery and roles will benefit Strom, and that they will get the version of him that helped the Astros win the World Series in 2017 and make the ALCS in five straight years.

Pirates' hire of Brent Strom demonstrates investment in club's young pitching talent

According to Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Strom will coach games from the dugout. The Pirates still have yet to fill the vacancy left by Justin Meccage, the team's bullpen coach who was fired after the 2024 season.

Strom will work alongside pitching coach Oscar Marin in Pittsburgh and will be tasked with developing and improving a Pirates organization that is already bursting with young pitching talent. Headlined by Paul Skenes, a finalist for the National League Rookie of the Year and Cy Young Awards, the group also includes rookie standout Jared Jones and homegrown talent Mitch Keller – both of whom could still have untapped potential.

It's also possible that the Pirates could graduate prospects like Bubba Chandler, Braxton Ashcraft and Thomas Harrington to the Major Leagues in 2025, giving Strom an opportunity to work with them early in their development.

More Pirates content from Rum Bunter