Fired Diamondbacks pitching coach Brent Strom: “Pitching held this team back”

The Arizona Diamondbacks fired pitching coach Brent Strom on Thursday.

“I appreciated the opportunity,” Strom said in a text message The athlete. “Pitching has held this team back this year. I did my best. End of story.” Strom left the Diamondbacks to comment further.

Strom, once considered baseball’s best pitching coach, found himself in the hot seat after a season in which Arizona scored by far the most runs in the MLB and still fell short of the postseason with an 89-73 record . Only the 101-loss Rockies allowed a higher opponent batting average than the Diamondbacks (.262), who also ranked 27th in ERA (4.62) and WHIP (1.35). Injuries certainly played a role. Several starters, including Merrill Kelly and closer Paul Sewald, missed time. But general manager Mike Hazen said Tuesday that he feels the roster is well-equipped to overcome periodic injuries, particularly in a rotation that has underperformed relative to expectations.

“I feel like we had enough early pitching to get us through the injuries we sustained early in the season, but then in the second half it just didn’t come together the way it should have said Hazen. “I think we need to be better at getting these people where they need to go.”

In Strom’s three seasons in Arizona, his team finished 20th in ERA in 2023. The former longtime Houston Astros pitching coach enjoyed a brief retirement before landing with the Diamondbacks, a development that was widely viewed as a coup for a rebuilding franchise.

His data-driven approach, particularly emphasizing the importance of swing-and-miss percentage, helped the Astros achieve the fifth-best cumulative ERA in MLB during his tenure as pitching coach from 2014 to 2021.

(Photo by AJ Puk and Brent Strom: Chris Coduto / Getty Images)