The hot stove season is just underway, and it will be some time before the most prominent players settle on their destinations. Nevertheless, those who are familiar with pitching coach Curt Young are convinced that the Red Sox have already made one of their most significant moves of the offseason in hiring the 50-year-old.
To understand why Young became known as one of the best pitching coaches in the game, it is necessary to look back not just to his seven years in charge of the Oakland pitching staff or his four years as a minor league pitching coach, but further to his own playing career.
In parts of 11 big league seasons, mostly with the A’s, Young succeeded on guile. He did not have an ability to blow away opponents, instead relying on command and the ability to change speeds to go 69-53 in his big league career. It was apparent, even when Young was in his 20s, that he had an impressive feel for the craft of pitching.
“I’m not really surprised he ended up being a pitching coach,” said Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan, who was Young’s pitching coach in Oakland for parts of seven seasons. “He wasn’t an overpowering pitcher. He was a guy who had very good command of his pitches, and he was a very smart, perceptive guy who had a great presence of mind on the mound.
“He was very perceptive to the reaction of hitters to the pitches. He had a very good mental presence on the mound, slowed the game down, thought through the game. He was a very cerebral pitcher.”
Young was a favorite teammate of many on the A’s pitching staffs. He had, Dennis Eckersley recalled, a “calm aura about him,” both on and off the mound, but at the same time, he remained intensely competitive with a burning desire to win. And so, in the absence of pure overpowering stuff, Young relied on his intelligence to give him an edge.
“He always figured out a way to make something happen on the mound. He was very, very resourceful in getting the job done,” said former A’s teammate Dave Stewart. “A lot of the time when you’re a finesse guy, you have to work with the internal parts: with your guts, and how you think. When you’ve pitched a career like that, you’re certainly capable of teaching it. There’s no doubt in my mind.”
As a pitching coach, it took little time for Young to demonstrate the accuracy of that claim. In the minors, he mentored the likes of Aaron Harang, Rich Harden and Justin Duscherer. In the majors, he inherited an A’s pitching staff anchored by Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder and Barry Zito.
But the Athletics’ low payroll forced frequent and significant turnover of the rotation. Yet one young pitcher after another developed into a star under his tutelage. Dan Haren became an American League All-Star starter under Young, Duscherer likewise flourished as a two-time All-Star and Joe Blanton developed into a 200-inning horse. More recently, in a 2010 season that saw the A’s feature the youngest pitching staff in the American League, Oakland nevertheless had the lowest ERA (3.58) in the AL. The fuzzy-cheeked rotation featured Trevor Cahill, Brett Anderson, Gio Gonzalez and Dallas Braden, yet the rotation produced a 3.47 ERA that was the best by an AL team since 1990.
“I think he’s been remarkable, myself. It seems like he’s always got his staff in the top of the ERA [rankings], and I try to think to myself, ‘Who’s on that staff to make them good?’” said Duncan. “It’s hard for me to name who he’s got going out there. So I always think it’s remarkable what he’s done with the personnel he’s had.
“He must have a really solid approach to what he’s doing. He’s been very consistent with a lot of change in personnel. Whatever his approach is, it works. It’s obvious that his pitchers pay attention to what he has to say and what his approach is.”
That was easy to do, according to former Red Sox pitcher Lenny DiNardo. The left-hander had shuttled between Pawtucket and Boston from 2004-06 before joining Young in Oakland for the 2007 season. There, he enjoyed the best year of his career to date, forging a 4.11 ERA as a member of the A’s rotation.
DiNardo found a natural kinship with Young, a fellow finesse lefty. Young helped DiNardo to utilize a changeup that proved a key component of his success.
Even so, it was the pitching coach’s endless willingness to help any member of his staff that DiNardo found particularly impressive. In a small but telling gesture, Young would always ask his pitcher at the end of a bullpen session if there was anything else he wanted to work on. In DiNardo’s case, he wanted to work on his fielding.
And so, Young took the almost unheard-of step (for a pitching coach) of hitting his pitcher fungos. It was just one example among many that DiNardo witnessed of a coach who found ways to connect with all members of his pitching staff in an effort to get the best from them.
“Not everybody’s a Curt Schilling and not everybody’s a Lenny DiNardo,” said DiNardo. “We’re completely different pitchers but I think that [Young] can see eye to eye with both and be able to help both types of pitchers.
“Listening to him talk to different pitchers-he’s got a great idea about the game, he’s able to talk to everybody and he’s able to click with everybody,” he continued. “He was able to talk to anybody because he played each role. He was a young guy coming up in the big leagues, he played up to being a veteran in the big leagues too, so he knows exactly where everyone is coming from.”
That being the case, those who know Young well believe that he will be able to make the transition from Oakland to Boston in relatively seamless fashion. The idea of transition – whether from a young staff to a more veteran one, or a small-market to a large-market – can be exaggerated.
More important, Young’s acquaintances suggest, is his demeanor, his intelligence and his track record, traits that could position the pitching coach to be a difference-maker with the Red Sox.
“The demands on anybody in baseball in Boston, are going to be greater than probably any other team,” said DiNardo. “He’s laid back but at the same time under pressure situations he keeps his cool. I know in Boston it can be hectic at times, but I could see him taking that really well.”
“I think it was a great choice to make,” added Duncan. “I think he’ll go into that situation, if anyone has paid attention to his background, with credibility. He should have the ear of the personnel that’s there, regardless of whether they’re veterans or youth.
“All these guys want to be as good as they can be. If they honestly think that there’s someone there who cares about them and can help them, they’re going to pay attention to what he can contribute to their success.”