Cubs name Casey Jacobson assistant pitching coach

   

Earlier this week, Cubs assistant pitching coach Daniel Moskos left the team to become the head pitching coach for the Marlins.

Cubs name Casey Jacobson assistant pitching coach - Bleed Cubbie Blue

The Cubs wasted no time in filling this vacancy, naming Casey Jacobson to the assistant pitching coach position. Details from Sahadev Sharma in The Athletic:

Jacobson just wrapped up his fifth season with the organization and his second as minor-league senior coordinator of pitching development.

Jacobson is a former instructor at Driveline Baseball, a well-known player development academy in Washington, and spent six years coaching in the college ranks.

Those within the organization laud Jacobson for his interpersonal skills and ability to connect with young pitchers by earning their trust by clearly delivering messages and tying it into what the player actually values. Multiple people in the organization noted his empathy with players and staff as he works to know who the human is in order to ensure that it’s clear he cares about a player’s development over his own self interests, which has helped with buy-in.

This all sounds quite positive, and Sharma’s article also indicates that Jacobson spent quite a bit of time with Porter Hodge, Daniel Palencia and Jordan Wicks during his time as coordinator, helping them develop various pitches.

There are still a couple of coaching positions to be filled for manager Craig Counsell’s staff, including a first-base coach. Sharma’s article says a coaching staff announcement should be coming “shortly,” so as always, we await developments.