Friday Insider: Strom brings old-school mentality to pitchers
Brent Strom, the Pirates' 76-year-old assistant pitching coach, has been around the block a time or two.
After a five-year major-league career as a pitcher, he got into coaching in 1992 and has spent time at the big-league level with the Astros, with whom he won a World Series with in 2017, the Royals and most recently, the Diamondbacks.
Over the past 32 years, he's seen a lot, worked with a lot of pitchers and learned what works and what doesn't. Now, after the Pirates hired Strom as an assistant pitching coach in December, the pitching staff has been reaping the rewards.
While I was in Bradenton, Fla. for spring training, I picked the brains of some of the Pirates' pitchers, young and old, to see how Strom impacted them to start the season. I've also checked in with a couple others over the past week or so to see how Strom has helped through the first 20 games of the season.
The big takeaway: This staff respects him. They value the advice he gives on a day-to-day basis, how he teaches during bullpens and ultimately how he consistently stays on top of them to make sure they are following up on improvements.
The second takeaway: His old-school coaching style balances out the pitching group and gives a different perspective alongside pitching coach Oscar Marin.
"It’s a good, yin and yang," Ryan Borucki told me about Strom and Marin working together. "I think Oscar brings the new school and Stromy brings the old school and it’s good to have two different mindsets in a coaching staff because I feel like when the whole coaching staff thinks the same way, it feels like sometimes it can get cookie cutter at times. So it’s good to have different personalities, different philosophies because everything is not going to work for every single guy. What works for me might not work the same for Justin Lawrence or for (Caleb Ferguson), things like that."
Overall, I've heard nothing but positives things from the Pirates pitchers over the last few months. While speaking with Borucki in the clubhouse at PNC Park, he told me that he's benefitted from old-school type pitching coaches throughout his career, so having Strom on staff has allowed him to thrive and his numbers show it.
At a quick glance, his 4.00 ERA through the middle of April may not be the most appealing. But, the Yankees inflicted most of the damage against him. He gave up one run on two hits on April 5 and was then touched up for three earned runs on three hits the next day. Outside of those two appearances, he's given up just one hit, one run and one walk while striking out seven in 7 1/3 innings.
Borucki told me his success could be attributed to discovering a consistent delivery since the beginning of spring, something that Strom's old-school mentality focuses on.
"With him, it’s just more the nuts and bolts of making quality pitches and having a consistent delivery, things that, when I was coming up through the minor leagues, they preached so much," Borucki said.
Strom also helped Borucki work on his splitter coming into this season, a pitch that he's used 21 times so far. While it's his least used pitch, opponents have produced a .167 batting average against it with a 44.4% whiff rate, the highest of any of his pitches.
Kyle Nicolas said in recent days that Strom is a coach that anyone on the staff can go to when they are trying to figure something out. He's seen almost everything, so they have a lot of confidence in him to help them work through certain issues. Nicolas said Strom also displays a strong confidence when he's giving advice to his pitchers.
"He definitely has his ways, he’s been doing it for a long time," Nicolas told me. "He’s seen things work, he’s seen things not work, so that’s what you get from experience at the highest level. You get confidence and stuff you believe in. The same goes for a coach, as a player. If you see something that works, you’re going to be confident in it and he definitely is."
After starting the season with Class AAA Indianapolis, Nicolas said he hasn't gotten to work with Strom a ton, but in the conversations they have had, they've discussed pitch usage and how to change up his timing to keep hitters off balance.
Strom also left a lasting impression on left-hander Anthony Solometo, the Pirates' No. 14 prospect, according to MLB Pipeline, during their time together in Florida. One thing that Solometo admitted to me is that he was always pretty guarded when it came to pitching coaches, until he was drafted. He said Strom broke down that barrier almost immediately after meeting him and it benefitted him through the early parts of camp.
"With Strom he wasted no time. We met, shook hands and he was already coaching and correcting things," Solometo said during spring training in March. "He’s made two adjustments to my form and he’s two-for-two on things that have definitely benefitted me. I appreciate the way he works, he’s straight to the point and he says everything with conviction that it’s going to work, not if it’s going to work and I really appreciate that."
Solometo has started twice for Class AA Altoona this season and has produced a 0.90 ERA over 10 innings while striking out seven and walking four. He struck out five in his last outing on April 12 and has only given up two total hits.
You could say Strom's impact has been noticeable early on this season.
• I'll start with this, I haven't heard anything about any type of leash Derek Shelton or Ben Cherington are on as the season carries on. However, DK spoke on that in last week's Friday Insider.
• Tommy Pham was in the clubhouse this morning trying to break in a glove. He said after he dropped a ball in right field on Wednesday, he realized he could take the padding out of the palm of his glove. He said it allows him to squeeze the ball on plays in the outfield better, preventing it from rolling around his glove. It seems like something small, but these guys are often looking for any advantage they can find.
• Along with talking about Strom, I asked Borucki about the vibe down in the bullpen since April 8. Heading into Thursday's 1-0 shutout win over the Nationals, their first of the season, the Pirates' bullpen had recorded a 3.31 ERA, the ninth-best in Major League Baseball. However, their 1.07 ERA in their last eight contests ranks first.
"It’s very next man up, very next-man up mentality," Borucki said. "Anybody can throw in any kind of roles and it’s fun. When everybody is posting good numbers, it’s kind of an inner competition, you just want to keep compounding on that."
• I'm sure everyone saw Andrew Heaney's shoelace incident in Thursday's win over the Nationals. Turns out, that happens a lot and the left-hander has a stockpile of shoelaces in his locker stall in the clubhouse.
"I had told Mitch (Keller), I said, 'Hey, if you ever see me just pointing down at my shoe and I look like an idiot just standing there on the mound, I blew out my shoelace. Go run up there and if you can, grab my shoelace out of my locker.' Y'all can see, I've got like 100 of them in there just ready," Heaney said. "I always switch them out, but sometimes day games, it gets hot, mound gets dry, it kind of grates the shoelace off."
• José Negron will have you covered on the North Shore this weekend as the Pirates take on the Guardians. I'll be on the road next week when they head to Anaheim and Los Angeles for a seven-game stretch.
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THE ASYLUM
Greg Macafee
4:07 am - 04.18.2025NORTH SHOREFriday Insider: Strom brings old-school mentality to pitchers
Brent Strom, the Pirates' 76-year-old assistant pitching coach, has been around the block a time or two.
After a five-year major-league career as a pitcher, he got into coaching in 1992 and has spent time at the big-league level with the Astros, with whom he won a World Series with in 2017, the Royals and most recently, the Diamondbacks.
Over the past 32 years, he's seen a lot, worked with a lot of pitchers and learned what works and what doesn't. Now, after the Pirates hired Strom as an assistant pitching coach in December, the pitching staff has been reaping the rewards.
While I was in Bradenton, Fla. for spring training, I picked the brains of some of the Pirates' pitchers, young and old, to see how Strom impacted them to start the season. I've also checked in with a couple others over the past week or so to see how Strom has helped through the first 20 games of the season.
The big takeaway: This staff respects him. They value the advice he gives on a day-to-day basis, how he teaches during bullpens and ultimately how he consistently stays on top of them to make sure they are following up on improvements.
The second takeaway: His old-school coaching style balances out the pitching group and gives a different perspective alongside pitching coach Oscar Marin.
"It’s a good, yin and yang," Ryan Borucki told me about Strom and Marin working together. "I think Oscar brings the new school and Stromy brings the old school and it’s good to have two different mindsets in a coaching staff because I feel like when the whole coaching staff thinks the same way, it feels like sometimes it can get cookie cutter at times. So it’s good to have different personalities, different philosophies because everything is not going to work for every single guy. What works for me might not work the same for Justin Lawrence or for (Caleb Ferguson), things like that."
Overall, I've heard nothing but positives things from the Pirates pitchers over the last few months. While speaking with Borucki in the clubhouse at PNC Park, he told me that he's benefitted from old-school type pitching coaches throughout his career, so having Strom on staff has allowed him to thrive and his numbers show it.
At a quick glance, his 4.00 ERA through the middle of April may not be the most appealing. But, the Yankees inflicted most of the damage against him. He gave up one run on two hits on April 5 and was then touched up for three earned runs on three hits the next day. Outside of those two appearances, he's given up just one hit, one run and one walk while striking out seven in 7 1/3 innings.
Borucki told me his success could be attributed to discovering a consistent delivery since the beginning of spring, something that Strom's old-school mentality focuses on.
"With him, it’s just more the nuts and bolts of making quality pitches and having a consistent delivery, things that, when I was coming up through the minor leagues, they preached so much," Borucki said.
Strom also helped Borucki work on his splitter coming into this season, a pitch that he's used 21 times so far. While it's his least used pitch, opponents have produced a .167 batting average against it with a 44.4% whiff rate, the highest of any of his pitches.
Kyle Nicolas said in recent days that Strom is a coach that anyone on the staff can go to when they are trying to figure something out. He's seen almost everything, so they have a lot of confidence in him to help them work through certain issues. Nicolas said Strom also displays a strong confidence when he's giving advice to his pitchers.
"He definitely has his ways, he’s been doing it for a long time," Nicolas told me. "He’s seen things work, he’s seen things not work, so that’s what you get from experience at the highest level. You get confidence and stuff you believe in. The same goes for a coach, as a player. If you see something that works, you’re going to be confident in it and he definitely is."
After starting the season with Class AAA Indianapolis, Nicolas said he hasn't gotten to work with Strom a ton, but in the conversations they have had, they've discussed pitch usage and how to change up his timing to keep hitters off balance.
Strom also left a lasting impression on left-hander Anthony Solometo, the Pirates' No. 14 prospect, according to MLB Pipeline, during their time together in Florida. One thing that Solometo admitted to me is that he was always pretty guarded when it came to pitching coaches, until he was drafted. He said Strom broke down that barrier almost immediately after meeting him and it benefitted him through the early parts of camp.
"With Strom he wasted no time. We met, shook hands and he was already coaching and correcting things," Solometo said during spring training in March. "He’s made two adjustments to my form and he’s two-for-two on things that have definitely benefitted me. I appreciate the way he works, he’s straight to the point and he says everything with conviction that it’s going to work, not if it’s going to work and I really appreciate that."
Solometo has started twice for Class AA Altoona this season and has produced a 0.90 ERA over 10 innings while striking out seven and walking four. He struck out five in his last outing on April 12 and has only given up two total hits.
You could say Strom's impact has been noticeable early on this season.
• I'll start with this, I haven't heard anything about any type of leash Derek Shelton or Ben Cherington are on as the season carries on. However, DK spoke on that in last week's Friday Insider.
• Tommy Pham was in the clubhouse this morning trying to break in a glove. He said after he dropped a ball in right field on Wednesday, he realized he could take the padding out of the palm of his glove. He said it allows him to squeeze the ball on plays in the outfield better, preventing it from rolling around his glove. It seems like something small, but these guys are often looking for any advantage they can find.
• Along with talking about Strom, I asked Borucki about the vibe down in the bullpen since April 8. Heading into Thursday's 1-0 shutout win over the Nationals, their first of the season, the Pirates' bullpen had recorded a 3.31 ERA, the ninth-best in Major League Baseball. However, their 1.07 ERA in their last eight contests ranks first.
"It’s very next man up, very next-man up mentality," Borucki said. "Anybody can throw in any kind of roles and it’s fun. When everybody is posting good numbers, it’s kind of an inner competition, you just want to keep compounding on that."
• I'm sure everyone saw Andrew Heaney's shoelace incident in Thursday's win over the Nationals. Turns out, that happens a lot and the left-hander has a stockpile of shoelaces in his locker stall in the clubhouse.
"I had told Mitch (Keller), I said, 'Hey, if you ever see me just pointing down at my shoe and I look like an idiot just standing there on the mound, I blew out my shoelace. Go run up there and if you can, grab my shoelace out of my locker.' Y'all can see, I've got like 100 of them in there just ready," Heaney said. "I always switch them out, but sometimes day games, it gets hot, mound gets dry, it kind of grates the shoelace off."
• José Negron will have you covered on the North Shore this weekend as the Pirates take on the Guardians. I'll be on the road next week when they head to Anaheim and Los Angeles for a seven-game stretch.
Want to participate in our comments?
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Become a member, and enjoy premium benefits! Make your voice heard on the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates, and hear right back from tens of thousands of fellow Pittsburgh sports fans worldwide! Plus, access all our premium content, including Dejan Kovacevic columns, Friday Insider, daily Live Qs with the staff, more! And yeah, that's right, no ads at all!
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