Chicago Cubs Promote Rising Star to Major League Pitching Coach Role

The Chicago Cubs have made an internal hire to fill their Major League pitching coach opening.

Aug 26, 2024; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell (30) looks on during batting practice before a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park / Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

After the season, Craig Counsell decided it was time to reshape the coaching staff under him after he didn't make too many changes when he was hired to become the manager of the Chicago Cubs.

Coming off another disappointing showing last year that resulted in them missing the playoffs for the fourth straight campaign, the highest paid skipper in the history of the sport knows he needs to bring some of his own guys into the mix if he's going to live up to that contract.

The Cubs will have virtually a completely different staff in 2025.

Recently, one of their assistant pitching coaches took the Major League pitching coach job with the Miami Marlins, so that created a need for Counsell to find someone to work under Tommy Hottovy.

According to Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic, Chicago promoted Casey Jacobson to become their new assistant pitching coach after he had been the minor league senior coordinator of pitching development for the past two years.

This is an exciting hire for those around the organization.

Jacobson was brought to the Cubs in 2019 after he was an instructor at Driveline Baseball, a player development academy that has become well known and well regarded.

He has continued to impress during his tenure with the franchise.

"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 ... From a technical aspect, Jacobson is strong with pitch design and has a keen understanding of what delivery traits lead to release characteristics, an essential part of figuring out avenues for improvement," reports Sharma.

Chicago has multiple young arms coming up the ranks and currently on their active roster who are expected to play major roles for the team going forward, so having someone like Jacobson continuing to work with them is huge.