Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitchers, from left, Jared Jones, Mitch Keller and Pul Skenes stand in the dugout during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs in Pittsburgh, Saturday, May 11, 2024. It was Paul Skenes’ major league debut. The Pirates won 10-9. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
The Pittsburgh Pirates are hiring Bill Murphy as their new pitching coach, a source confirmed to Pittsburgh Baseball Now.
Murphy, 36, had served as pitching coach of the Houston Astros alongside Joshua Miller since the start of the 2022 season. Prior to his promotion, Murphy was assistant pitching coach in 2021 under then-pitching coach Brent Strom and had served as Houston’s minor-league pitching coordinator.
Under Murphy’s leadership this past season, the Astros finished 11th in baseball with a 3.86 ERA. Houston’s pitching staff finished in the top 10 in ERA in each of Murphy’s first three seasons as pitching coach, including an American League-leading 2.90 mark in 2022, the year the Astros defeated the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series.
Prior to his career as a coach in the Astros’ organization, Murphy worked at the collegiate level at Georgetown University and Brown University.
The Pirates had a vacancy at pitching coach after dismissing Oscar Marin after the season. Marin had served in the position for six years.
The Pirates’ pitching staff, led by Cy Young frontrunner Paul Skenes, finished with a 3.76 ERA, including a 3.71 mark from their starting pitchers.
In addition to Skenes and veteran Mitch Keller, the Pirates had a number of top prospects either make their MLB debut or get their first extended look in the big leagues. Right-handers Bubba Chandler, Mike Burrows and Braxton Ashcraft all found varying levels of success in their respective rookie campaigns and play into the Pirates’ future plans.
Now that the Pirates have found their next pitching coach, they will need to hire a bench coach and third base to round out Kelly’s staff.
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