Beloved Astros pitching coach resurfaces on other side of country in surprise new job

When pitching coach Brent Strom left the Houston Astros before the 2022 season, many fans thought that it would be a massive loss - and it was, in a lot of respects. Strom is one of the most respected pitching minds in all of baseball, and was credited for helping build Houston's dynasty thanks to his willingness to blend analytics with traditional coaching (and being very good at doing so).

Strom left for the Diamondbacks to be closer to his home, which was understandable, yet painful. However, after Arizona's surprising run to the World Series in 2023, the Diamondbacks' pitchers struggled in 2024 and Strom was made the scapegoat for those struggles, let go at the end of the campaign.

Many Astros fans hoped that he would return to Houston, or at least were curious about where he could end up, or whether this was the end of the road for his time in the dugout.

Well, we have the answer to that now, as Strom got hired by the Pirates, of all teams, to be an assistant pitching coach. Now, he'll get to help mold Paul Skenes, Jared Jones, and future flamethrowers like Bubba Chandler.

Former Astros pitching coach Brent Strom lands on his feet with the Pirates

There is a bit to unpack here. One, it certainly is a little weird to see Strom accept an assistant pitching coach position on the east coast when it sounded like he either was looking to retire or coach closer to home once he left Houston. However, there is a potential explanation for the thought process here.

One, the Pirates are a bad baseball team, but they have some of the more interesting arms to work with in phenom Paul Skenes and flamethrower Jared Jones. It is entirely possible that at this stage of his career, Strom just relished the opportunity to work with a couple pitchers who could turn out to be generational talents, if everything breaks right.

Being an assistant pitching coach is definitely a demotion from what he was doing, but that could also be appealing to Strom. If he can have some diminished responsibilities and, importantly, less time on the road, he can still stay involved in baseball without having the same level of stress and could be able to spend more time with family and friends.

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