Brent Strom 'Grateful' For Opportunity With Pirates
Arguably the splashiest new hire to the Pittsburgh Pirates' pitching staff is now official.
The Pirates announced the hiring of Brent Strom as their assistant pitching coach on Thursday. Strom, 76, was most recently the Arizona Diamondbacks' pitching coach from 2022 to 2024 and established himself as one of the league's best in his second stint with the Houston Astros from 2014 to 2021. Under his watch, the Astros had three American League Cy Young Award Finalists, including Justin Verlander winning it in 2019, and Arizona Diamondbacks right-handed pitcher Zac Gallen was a finalist for the National League Cy Young Award in 2022 and 2023.
In joining the Pirates, Strom noted the opportunity at hand and his excitement to work alongside pitching coach Oscar Marin with a young pitching rotation that has a chance to be one of the league's best if they live up to their potential.
"I’m very grateful to the Pirates for giving me a shot," Strom told MLB.com's Jim Lachimia. "This is an opportunity to come in and do some teaching and work with their talented young pitching staff. That’s exciting. Oscar is really on top of things, and he seems to really care about his guys."
The headliner of the group Strom will have an opportunity to work with is Paul Skenes. Skenes won the 2024 National League Rookie of the Year on the heels of one of the best rookie seasons in MLB history, going 11-3 with a 1.96 ERA in 23 starts. Alongside Skenes will be Jared Jones and Mitch Keller, who could help make a formidable trio atop the rotation if they can sort out their second-half woes from last season.
Bailey Falter and Luis Ortiz also pitched well last season, and the Pirates have a trio of top 100 pitching prospects in MLB Pipeline's rankings, Bubba Chandler, Braxton Ashcraft and Thomas Harrington. The trio of top-100 prospects each reached Triple-A Indianapolis last season.
Strom said he's already gotten insight on Pittsburgh's pitching staff from Marin. Along with getting up to speed on the Pirates' pitchers, he's looking to help them take the next step in their development in 2025.
"He’s educated me quite a bit about those guys already," Strom said. "I’ve seen scouting reports and what they’re working on this winter, and my job is to facilitate and help Oscar as much as I can. I’m going to be the best backup quarterback I can possibly be for him and this team. There’s a good pitching culture here, and I want to add to that momentum."
