Red Sox Introduce Nieves as Pitching Coach
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Brian D. Kersey/Getty Images)(INDIAN WELLS, Calf.) — The Boston Red Sox introduced Juan Nieves as their new pitching coach Wednesday.
Nieves, who spent the last five years as the White Sox bullpen coach, pitched three years in the big leagues for the Milwaukee Brewers. He and Red Sox manager John Farrell have known each other for the past 25 years. The two played winter ball together in Puerto Rico in 1987 and have stayed in touch since.
“It’s an easy fit first of all because I’m only changing Sox,” Nieves said. “It was a great fit knowing John from a long time in Puerto Rico and we actually played on the same team. We were able to talk a lot through the years.”
There hasn’t been much stability recently in Boston when it comes to pitching coaches. Nieves becomes the team’s fifth pitching coach in the last four seasons, but Farrell is looking to change that.
“I have no question that the program and the consistency of it will be present here,” Farrell said in a conference call. “That will be largely in part what Juan brings here. There will certainly be a lot of input from my standpoint. Whether it’s pitching, hitting, regardless of the side of the game, there’s no doubt that stability is needed. If you look at any situation that has continuity to it, you have a greater chance for success. By being with pitchers for a number of years, not only myself or Juan, to know what a pitcher’s delivery is, to know about the person and how he performs best in tight situations, knowing how he performs best by different ways of handling the individual pitcher, that continuity is extremely important.”
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