The Guardians are losing another member of their pitching brain trust, and this one is heading straight to Terry Francona’s staff in Cincinnati.
Joe Torres, Cleveland’s assistant pitching coach, has taken the head pitching coach job with Francona’s Reds, according to team insider Zack Meisel. Torres had been part of the Guardians’ major league staff since 2022, working under Carl Willis, who is set to return for 2027.
For Torres, the move marks the next step in a coaching path that started long before he reached the big leagues. The 44-year-old Bronx native came to Cleveland in 2017 after a playing career that was derailed by injuries. He never pitched in the majors, but he built up years of minor league experience and turned that into a successful run as a coach.
His climb through the organization was steady. Torres began with the Arizona League Indians as a pitching coach in 2017, then moved on to the Lake County Captains in 2018 and the Lynchburg Hillcats in 2019. After that season, Cleveland promoted him to minor league pitching coordinator, a role he held through 2021 before joining the big-league staff.
That pipeline has become a familiar one for the Guardians, whose reputation for developing pitchers has helped produce coaches for other clubs. Brian Sweeney with the Royals, Matt Blake with the Yankees and Ruben Niebla with the Padres are among the other former Cleveland staffers now serving as MLB pitching coaches, per Justin Lada.
The results on the field back up that reputation. Cleveland finished this season with the eighth-best ERA in the majors at 3.77. Since Torres joined the major league staff in 2022, the Guardians have posted the fourth-best ERA in baseball at 3.63.
The organization has not announced a replacement yet, and Torres leaves after a stretch that clearly made him a sought-after name around the league.
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