Reds' new pitching coach brings a Terry Francona connection from Guardians

The Cincinnati Reds have finally found their replacement for departed pitching coach Derek Johnson. On Wednesday, the Reds named Joe Torres, the Cleveland Guardians assistant pitching coach, as the team's new Major League pitching coach.

Torres began his coaching career in the Cleveland organization back in 2017 at the Arizona Complex League. He was promoted to be the pitching coach of the Guardians' High-A affiliate two years later, and became the organization's minor league pitching coordinator after the 2019 season.

Torres actually joined Terry Francona's staff as the assistant pitching coach in 2022 and remained on after Stephen Vogt took over in Cleveland following Tito's initial retirement at the end of the 2023 season.

Reds hire Guardians pitching coach Joe Torres to replace Derek Johnson

Torres is actually was former first-round draft pick of the then-Anaheim Angels in 2000. He never made it to the big leagues and retired from playing professional baseball in 2013. The Reds will be relying on Torres to bring the pitching staff back to respectability after they lost a lot of ground in a number of different areas last season.

There was a lot of speculation about who the Reds would hire to replace Johnson. Current Guardians pitching coach Carl Willis was thought to be a candidate, and the Reds also interviewed assistant pitching coach Matt Tracy and bullpen coach Oscar Marin. But the club actually went outside the organization to sign Torres away from Cleveland.

He'll now take over for Johnson, who left the team midway through the season. At the time of his hire, Johnson was Craig Counsell's right-hand man with the Milwaukee Brewers. He joined David Bell's coaching staff in 2018, was later appointed to be the Reds Director of Pitching, but was granted a leave of absence this summer, and Nick Krall announced after the 2026 season that the two sides had parted ways.

The Reds pitching staff led the league in walks this past season with 668 free passes, and the team's overall strikeout rate was ranked 25th among all MLB teams. The Reds 4.84 ERA and 4.82 FIP ranked just ahead of the Athletics and Colorado Rockies. Needless to say, Torres has his work cut out for him.

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