Brent Terry Strom (born October 14, 1948) is a former
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
(MLB)
pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...
and current pitching
coach
Coach may refer to:
Guidance/instruction
* Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities
* Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process
** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers
Transportation
* Co ...
for the Arizona Diamondbacks. His MLB playing career spanned from 1972 to 1973 and 1975 to 1977 for the
New York Mets
The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...
,
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...
and
San Diego Padres
The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penn ...
.
[Baseball Reference](_blank)
/ref> He served as pitching coach for the Houston Astros in 1996 and from 2014 to 2021, helping guide the club to the 2017 World Series
The 2017 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2017 season. The 113th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the National League (NL) champion Los Angeles Dodgers and th ...
championship. He also coached the Kansas City Royals from 2000 to 2001. According to an interview with Tommy John
Thomas Edward John Jr. (born May 22, 1943), nicknamed "The Bionic Man," is an American retired professional baseball pitcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for 26 seasons between 1963 and 1989. He played for the Cleveland Indians, ...
, Strom was the second pitcher to receive Tommy John surgery.
College and the draft
Prior to playing professionally
A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skil ...
, Strom attended San Diego High School
San Diego High School (SDHS) is an urban public high school located on the southern edge of Balboa Park, in San Diego, California, United States. It is the oldest high school in the San Diego Unified School District, one of the oldest public sc ...
then the University of Southern California
, mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it"
, religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist
, established =
, accreditation = WSCUC
, type = Private research university
, academic_affiliations =
, endowment = $8.1 ...
, leading them to two NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...
championships. He was originally drafted in the sixth round by the California Angels in the June secondary phase of the 1967 amateur draft. In the January regular phase of the 1967 draft, he was drafted in the second round by the San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Y ...
, but did not sign either time. He finally did sign when the Mets drafted him third overall in the 1970 draft.
Professional career
Strom began his professional career as a starting pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...
in 1970 with the Visalia Mets. That season, his record was four wins and five losses with a 3.75 earned run average
In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...
and 79 strikeouts
In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...
in 72 innings of work. The following year, he split time between the Memphis Blues
The Memphis blues is a style of blues music created from the 1910s to the 1930s by musicians in the Memphis area, such as Frank Stokes, Sleepy John Estes, Furry Lewis and Memphis Minnie. The style was popular in vaudeville and medicine shows a ...
and the Tidewater Tides
The Norfolk Tides are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. They are located in Norfolk, Virginia, and are named in nautical reference to the city's location on the Chesap ...
, going a combined 13–5 with a 2.85 ERA
An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth.
Comp ...
and 147 strikeouts in 180 innings of work.
He earned a call-up to the majors in 1972 after doing well with the Tidewater Tides. With Tidewater, he had gone 6–7 with a 3.30 ERA in 142 innings of work. He made his big league debut on July 31, pitching well against the Montreal Expos
The Montreal Expos (french: link=no, Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in t ...
. In his first game, he pitched innings of work, allowing two runs on two hits and four walks, striking out seven in the process. Although he pitched well, he did not get the decision. The rest of his season did not turn out well; overall, he appeared in 11 games, starting five of them. He went 0–3 with a 6.82 ERA.
Strom was traded with Bob Rauch from the Mets to the Indians for Phil Hennigan
Phillip Winston Hennigan (April 10, 1946 – June 17, 2016) was a right-handed Major League Baseball pitcher who played from 1969 to 1973 with the Cleveland Indians and New York Mets.
Early life
Hennigan was born in Jasper, Texas. He attended J ...
at the Winter Meetings
Representatives of all 30 Major League Baseball teams and their 120 Minor League Baseball affiliates convene for four days each December in the Winter Meetings to discuss league business and conduct off-season trades and transactions. Attendees in ...
on November 27, 1972. He played only one season with the Indians, 1973, going 2–10 with a 4.61 ERA in 27 games (18 starts).
He did not play in 1974, but on June 21 of that year he was sent (with fellow pitcher Terry Ley
Terrence Richard Ley (born 21 February 1947, Portland, Oregon) is a retired baseball pitcher who began his career in the season for the New York Yankees. He was a student of University of Oregon before he was drafted in the 3rd round of the Janu ...
) to the Padres to complete an earlier trade that occurred on June 15. The Indians received pitcher Steve Arlin in return.
He went 8–8 in 18 games for the San Diego Padres in 1975. His 2.54 ERA was second on the team among all pitchers with at least 15 starts; he trailed only Randy Jones' 2.24 ERA. He had another respectable year in 1976, although his record was 12–16. In innings, he posted a 3.29 ERA, and his 103 strikeouts led the team. 1977 was his final season in the majors. He appeared in eight games, making three starts. He went 0–2 with a 12.42 ERA. He played his final game on May 17, a game in which the Padres were routed by the Chicago Cubs 23–6.
Although he did not play in the majors after the 1977 season, he remained active in the minors for a few more years. He did not play ball at all in 1978 after being released by the Padres in March of that year. After he was released, Strom became the second person to have Tommy John surgery, performed by Drs. Frank Jobe
Frank James Jobe (July 16, 1925 – March 6, 2014) was an American orthopedic surgeon and co-founder of the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic. Jobe pioneered both elbow ligament replacement and major reconstructive shoulder surgery for basebal ...
and Robert Kerlan. He was signed by the Houston Astros in March 1979. In his first year in the Astros' farm system, he pitched for the Daytona Beach Astros Daytona refers to the city of Daytona Beach, Florida, or things named after it.
Daytona may also refer to:
Locations
* Daytona Beach Shores, Florida
* South Daytona, Florida
* The Daytona Beach metropolitan area
* Halifax area, also known as Da ...
, the Columbus Astros
Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to:
* Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer
* Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio
Columbus may also refer to:
Places ...
and the Charleston Charlies
The Charleston Charlies were a Triple-A minor league baseball team located in Charleston, West Virginia. Two separate Charlies franchises played in the International League from 1971 to 1983. The team was the relocated Columbus Jets. In 1977 the f ...
. He went a combined 10–7 with a 3.63 ERA in 139 innings of work. In 1980, he pitched for the Tucson Toros
The Tucson Toros were a professional baseball team based in Tucson, Arizona, in the United States.
The original Toros were a Triple-A minor league baseball team in the Pacific Coast League from 1969 to 1997, where they won the PCL Championship in ...
, and went 11–6 with a 4.37 ERA in 136 innings. He played his final year in 1981 with the Albuquerque Dukes
The Albuquerque Dukes were a minor league baseball team based in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
History
The first Dukes team was formed in 1915 as part of the Class D Rio Grande Association. The team finished in third place with a 32-25 record. Frank ...
in the Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...
organization.
Overall, Strom went 22–39 with a 3.95 ERA in 100 big league appearances (75 starts). He pitched 501 innings, striking out 278 batters and walking 180. As a batter, he hit .078 in 102 career at-bats.
In the minors, he went 46–30 with a 3.65 ERA.
Post-playing career
Since 1992, Strom has served as the pitching coach for the Tucson
, "(at the) base of the black ill
, nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town"
, image_map =
, mapsize = 260px
, map_caption = Interactive map ...
Toros, Houston Astros, the Kansas City Royals, and back to the Astros. He has also served as the minor league pitching coordinator in the Montreal Expos
The Montreal Expos (french: link=no, Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in t ...
/Washington Nationals
The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C.. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. From 2005 to 2007, the team played in RFK Stadiu ...
organization. He also served as the St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...
' minor league pitching instructor. He became the Astros' pitching coach before the 2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
season. He served as the pitching coach for the Astros in 2017
File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...
, when they won their first-ever World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...
championship.
As of June 2018, Strom was the oldest pitching coach in the MLB, but he had developed a reputation for marrying an old-school baseball mentality with an open-minded approach to new-age analytics, resulting in huge success for the Houston pitching staff. The Astros ranked sixth in MLB in team ERA in 2015, 11th in 2016 and 2017, and first overall in the 2018 season.
"He's one of the few people who's really been able to keep that old-school mentality and take the best things he learned from that era and bring it to the analytical age," said Astros pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. "When you have a guy that can kind of blend both, you can really rely on his opinions and advice to make you a better pitcher."
In particular, Strom embraced the idea of throwing fastballs high in the zone and curveballs down and used data to convince Astros pitchers to buy into the approach. "With Strom and the methodology the Astros have here, you create room for error by using the entire zone, elevating above the zone, expanding east and west," said Astros pitcher Charlie Morton. "It makes it a lot easier to pitch.”
Following the Astros' 2021 World Series
The 2021 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2021 season. The 117th World Series was a best-of-seven playoff between the National League (NL) champion Atlanta Braves and the American League (AL) champion H ...
defeat to the Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The Braves were founded in Bos ...
, Strom announced that he was leaving the organization to retire from professional baseball
Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world.
Modern professional ...
. Heralded as an essential architect of an era of increasingly-dominant Astros pitching, he ably blended his experience and teaching with analytics. Strom coached Dallas Keuchel
Dallas Keuchel (, ; born January 1, 1988) is an American professional baseball pitcher who is currently a free agent. He has previously played in MLB for the Houston Astros, Atlanta Braves, Chicago White Sox, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Texas Ran ...
and Justin Verlander
Justin Brooks Verlander ( ; born February 20, 1983) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the New York Mets of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Detroit Tigers and Houston Astros. From Manakin-Sabot, ...
in their Cy Young
Denton True "Cy" Young (March 29, 1867 – November 4, 1955) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher. Born in Gilmore, Ohio, he worked on his family's farm as a youth before starting his professional baseball career. Young entered th ...
-winning seasons ( 2015 and 2019
File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
, respectively) and was credited with assisting Gerrit Cole
Gerrit Alan Cole (born September 8, 1990) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Houston Astros. Cole played for the baseball team ...
and Morton in elevating their own success. During their World Series run of 2021, the Astros relied heavily on young pitchers Framber Valdez, Luis García and José Urquidy
José Luis Hernández Urquidy (born May 1, 1995) is a Mexican professional baseball pitcher for the Houston Astros of Major League Baseball (MLB). Urquidy signed with the Astros as an international free agent in 2015 under the name of José Lu ...
following losses by injury to Verlander (for the season) and McCullers Jr. (in the American League Division Series
In Major League Baseball, the American League Division Series (ALDS) determines which two teams from the American League will advance to the American League Championship Series. The Division Series consists of two best-of-five series, featuring e ...
), and the departures of Cole and Morton to free agency
In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is ...
in seasons prior.
Despite his announcement that he was retiring following the 2021 World Series
The 2021 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2021 season. The 117th World Series was a best-of-seven playoff between the National League (NL) champion Atlanta Braves and the American League (AL) champion H ...
, Strom was hired by the Arizona Diamondbacks
The Arizona Diamondbacks (colloquially known as the D-backs) are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The ...
on November 12, 2021 to serve as the team's pitching coach for the 2022 season.
References
External links
WebBall.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Strom, Brent
1948 births
Living people
Albuquerque Dukes players
All-American college baseball players
Baseball coaches from California
Baseball players from San Diego
Charleston Charlies players
Cleveland Indians players
Daytona Beach Astros players
Hawaii Islanders players
Arizona Diamondbacks coaches
Houston Astros coaches
Kansas City Royals coaches
Major League Baseball pitchers
Major League Baseball pitching coaches
Memphis Blues players
New York Mets players
Oklahoma City 89ers players
San Diego City Knights baseball players
San Diego Padres players
Tidewater Tides players
Tucson Toros players
USC Trojans baseball players
Visalia Mets players
Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks players
San Diego High School alumni