Reds Are Right to Go Outside for a Pitching Coach. Now Make It a Real Hire

The Reds didn't just lose a pitching coach this fall. They lost a year.

Derek Johnson took a personal leave of absence in June and never came back. On October 1, Nick Krall announced he won't return and that "a search for a new pitching coach will begin immediately." We wish Johnson and his family nothing but the best. His run here included Baseball America's 2019 Major League Coach of the Year award, and that deserves respect.

Now to the Take: the Reds are making the right call by looking outside the building. They need to make it count.

The numbers tell you why. Reds pitchers finished 28th of 30 teams in ERA in 2026 at 4.83, per the Journal-News. In 2025 they were 12th at 3.86. That's not a slump. That's a staff that lost its direction, and the rotation fell from one of the best in baseball to near the bottom.

MLB Trade Rumors reports that assistant pitching coaches Matt Tracy and Oscar Marin interviewed, and that the club is now talking to outside candidates. Marin is a legit name. He ran Pittsburgh's staff for six seasons before he got here. But if Krall is going outside, it should be for someone who brings a clear identity: modern pitch design, a real development plan for the young arms, and the presence to get a veteran staff to buy in from the first day of camp.

Terry Francona has always leaned on his pitching coaches. Give him a partner, not a placeholder.

This is the most important hire of the Reds' offseason, bigger than any free-agent bat. Get the arms right and the rest of this roster has a chance. Get it wrong and 2027 looks like 2026 all over again.

Sources: MLB.com, Journal-News, MLB Trade Rumors, Columbus Dispatch.