The Twins’ new pitching coach brings a blend of old-school practicality and modern organizational polish, and that’s part of what makes Brian Reith such an intriguing hire.
Reith, who previously served in the same role for the Tampa Bay Rays’ Triple-A affiliate, is not a name that will ring bells for most big-league followers. But the Twins clearly saw enough in his background to make him the choice, and his résumé offers a few clues about where this could be headed.
For one thing, this is a much more conventional hire than the last two Twins pitching coaches. Wes Johnson came straight from the college game with no pro coaching background, a rare leap by any standard.
Pete Maki followed after that, also arriving from the college ranks without having pitched professionally. Reith is different.
He’s been around the pro game for years, and unlike those two, he actually logged major-league innings - nearly 130 of them with Cincinnati in the early 2000s. He also pitched in China, Mexico and indy leagues, giving him a broader playing background than the typical coach-on-paper profile.
That experience matters, but so does what Reith has believed in as a pitching instructor. In a 2018 interview with IndianaRBI, he laid out his approach plainly: “What I focus on mostly is fastball command and getting them to understand the four quadrants of the (strike) zone, how effective that can be and how it sets up their other pitches,” said Rieth, who was pitching coach for Tampa's Single-A affiliate at the time. “By doing this, starters can also help relievers later in the game.”
That philosophy appears to have stayed with him. As Twins Daily’s Parker Hageman notes, the Class-AAA Durham Bulls used fastballs 60.2% of the time over the past five years under Reith, and they did it with strong results. Minnesota, by contrast, had the lowest fastball rate in the majors last season at 26.7%.
Reith isn’t going to walk in and take over every game plan by himself; the Twins have their own structure, and the roster is different from Tampa’s Triple-A club. Still, it’s fair to expect some of his influence to show up.
The appeal is obvious: more fastballs can mean fewer walks, and that was a frustrating issue for the 2026 Twins staff. In Reith’s five years at Durham, his pitchers issued the fewest walks in Triple-A.
The results went well beyond limiting free passes, too. Durham ranked fourth in WHIP, fifth in strikeouts and fifth in ERA among Triple-A teams during his tenure.
That success can’t be pinned entirely on Reith - the Rays have built a reputation as one of baseball’s best pitching-development machines - but he’s been a major part of that system for years. Short of a long major-league coaching résumé, it’s hard to ask for much more.
There are also plenty of ties that should make the transition easier. Reith is coming from a Rays organization that previously employed both Derek Shelton and Rocco Baldelli, and he also overlapped with Twins assistant GM Josh Kalk in Tampa. That kind of familiarity matters.
He’s already worked with some current Twins pitchers, too. Taj Bradley spent considerable time with Durham over the years and was there when the Twins traded for him at the 2025 deadline.
Reith said of Bradley, “My relationship with (Bradley) is good,” Reith said after joining the Twins. “It’s a mature relationship.
We’ve worked well together in the past, and I’m really excited to work with him again and continue that and build on that some more.”
Joe Ryan is another notable connection. Reith coached in the minors while Ryan was developing into a top pitching prospect, and he worked directly with him at Class-A Bowling Green in 2019. That stands out because Ryan emerged as one of the most fastball-heavy pitchers in the game, which lines up neatly with Reith’s own beliefs.
Even the relievers have some overlap here. Yoendrys Gómez was with Tampa on a minor-league deal this past spring and made the team, so he didn’t actually pitch in Triple-A, but Reith likely crossed paths with him.
Reith also coached Eric Orze and Garrett Acton in Durham, though it remains to be seen whether those two are part of the 2027 picture. Their history with him could help.
The bigger picture is what the Twins seem to be after: someone who can connect the information age of pitching with actual on-field instruction. Baseball runs on data now, but the best coaches know how to turn that data into something useful for a pitcher on the mound.
Reith seems built for that kind of bridge. He made it to the majors as a pitcher, so he understands the craft from the inside.
His approach leans traditional, especially in how much he values the fastball. But he also comes from an analytics-driven Rays system, and that combination may be exactly why Minnesota wanted him.
Kyle Gibson, who pitched for Durham in Triple-A in 2025 before retiring, told Dan Hayes of The Athletic that Reith "has an incredible understanding of how to use analytics to best set a pitcher up for success. He understands the delivery really well also, and will be a huge asset as the Twins keep developing pitching."
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