Indians hire Carl Willis as new pitching coach
The Cleveland Indians hired veteran pitching coach Carl Willis, the team announced Thursday, to replace Mickey Callaway, who became the New York Mets manager on Monday.
Willis, who spent the last 2 ½ seasons as the Boston Red Sox pitching coach, returns to Cleveland after serving in the same role from 2003-09 under Eric Wedge. He guided the Indians to the best ERA in the American League in 2005. He also served as a special assistant for the Indians in 2014 before serving as the Tribe's Class AAA pitching coach in 2015.
He's coached four pitchers to Cy Young awards, two of them on the Indians — CC Sabathia in 2007 and Cliff Lee in 2008 — followed by the Red Sox's Rich Porcello in 2016 and the Seattle Mariners' Felix Hernandez in 2010.
Willis, courted by several other teams, inherits a pitching staff that led the entire MLB in ERA this past season, the first time that's happened since 1954.
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