McAdam: Red Sox appear half-set on pitching coach vacancies

The announcement earlier this month that Dana LeVangie would be re-assigned to a scouting position and Brian Bannister would focus entirely on pitching development created two openings on the Red Sox coaching staff.

It now appears the Red Sox have decided on how to fill one of those vacancies.

According to a baseball source, Dave Bush, who last year served as the team's pitching coordinator/performance will likely serve one of the staff's two pitching spots. It's unclear whether he will serve as the primary pitching coach (the role held by LeVangie the last two seasons) or the assistant spot (held by Bannister).



Bush's precise role is unclear for now and will largely hinge on who else the Red Sox hire. But either way, the expectation is that Bush will be part of the duo. It's expected that Bush, who pitched in the big leagues for nine seasons with Toronto, Milwaukee and Texas, will approach the position from an analytical standpoint.

Bush joined the organization after the 2016 season as a pitching development analyst before being promoted last January to his role as pitching coordinator/performance. In that role, he was tasked with using ''objective information and technology to lead pitch development and optimization, pitch usage and strategy, and mechanics in collaboration with Baseball Research and Development,'' according to the Red Sox.

As for the other half of the equation, the source indicated the Red Sox are willing to be somewhat unorthodox with their selection, and may be willing to hire someone from the college ranks. The Minnesota Twins took that approach last season when they hired Wes Johnson, a longtime high school and college coach.

Another former college coach, Derek Johnson, spent last season as the Cincinnati Reds pitching coach after spending the previous season in the same role for the Milwaukee Brewers.

The failure of the pitching staff was perhaps the biggest reason for the Red Sox' disappointing season, resulting in a third-place finish and LeVangie's re-assignment.

According to Alex Speier of the Boston Globe, there was tension through the 2018 season between LeVangie and the team's Baseball Operations department, the latter of which wanted to focus more on analytics and other data in gameplanning for opponents while LeVangie favored an approach based on more on video study.

The Sox finished 19th among the 30 MLB teams in staff ERA and four of the five starters experienced disappointing seasons, with three spending time on the Injured List.