Former Reds pitching coach Derek Johnson has found a new home with the Mets just days after Cincinnati moved on from him and hired Joe Torres to replace him.
Bobby Nightengale Jr. of the Minnesota Star Tribune reported that Johnson is being hired by New York, and Will Sammon of The Athletic added that the role will be advisory.
Johnson arrived in Cincinnati in 2019 after the Reds hired him away from the Milwaukee Brewers. At the time, the club was trying to climb out of another rebuild, and bringing in Johnson was part of a broader push to get serious again. The Reds added free agents, made trades for more established big leaguers and eventually started supplementing the roster with quality pitching from their own farm system.
The results on the mound were better than what Cincinnati had before Johnson got there. Some of that came from the organization’s decision to bring in more proven talent, but Johnson also carried a reputation as one of the better pitching coaches in the sport and likely squeezed plenty out of the arms he worked with.
His 2024 season, though, took a different turn. Johnson went on leave in early June, and assistant pitching coach Matt Tracy stepped in as the club’s top pitching voice.
Tracy remained in that role through the rest of the regular season, and Johnson never returned. After the season, Cincinnati announced that he would not be back.
Whatever kept Johnson away in the summer appears to have eased enough for him to re-enter baseball in some capacity. His Mets position does not sound like the kind of full-time, travel-heavy job he held as a pitching coach, but it does mark a return to the game after his absence from the Reds.
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