Mets Pitching Coach Candidate: Jeremy Hefner

Jeremy Hefner

Current Position: Minnesota Twins Assistant Pitching Coach
Age: March 11, 1986 (33)

After Hefner did not sign with the New York Mets after they made him their 46th round pick in the 2004 draft and their 48th round pick in the 2005 draft, they would claim him off of waivers six years later. In the ensuing year, he would not only make his Major League debut with the Mets, but he would be the first ever 26th man in Major League history.

Over the 2012 and 2013 seasons, Hefner would make 36 starts and 14 relief appearances for the Mets. He would go 8-15 with a 4.65 ERA and a 1.324 WHIP before suffering a torn UCL. He would rehab at the same time as Matt Harvey, but his rehab didn’t go as smoothly with him needing a second Tommy John surgery.

His inability to return from Tommy John led to his being non-tendered by the Mets. After a year in the Cardinals organization and the Dominican Winter Leagues, he would announce his retirement from baseball at the age of 30. At that point, the Twins approached him about retiring and becoming an advanced scout.

In his role as an advanced scout, he was “responsible for overseeing the Advance process (game planning and shifts, etc.) and helping with the development of major league players.” (Twins.com). Hefner took more of a hands-on role when he was named as the assistant pitching coach for the 2019 season.

Hefner would take those skills, and he would help a Twins pitching staff who had a 4.50 ERA and 4.39 FIP in 2018 improve to a 4.18 ERA and a 4.03 FIP for the American League Central Champions.

As detailed in Dan Hayes’ article for The Athletic, the work with Kyle Gibson highlights one of the reasons for that step forward. During the season, Hefner along with Twins pitching coach Wes Johnson and President of Baseball Operations Derek Falvey to identify how Gibson could best utilize his repertoire. This meant getting Gibson to use his fastball up in the zone more.

With respect to Hefner, this was an opportunity to present not just a combination of the old school and new school, it allowed him to communicate with Gibson as a player who had a similar experience.

This is the value Hefner presents to a team. He is well versed in analytically data, and he is able to effectively communicate it to players. Part of the reason why is he has credibility when he speaks because he speaks from experience. The determination for the Mets or any team interested in him as a pitching coach is whether he has sufficient experience to receive a promotion from an assistant to the pitching coach.

What They Say

Daniel Adler: “Hef is among the first wave of players who finished their careers and are really comfortable with this data. Those guys are going to be better ambassadors for this stuff than we can ever be. There’s always going to be something helpful about a person who played to make our research better and communicating to others who may be more skeptical. (Dan Hayes, The Athletic).

Thad Levine: “It all starts with the individual programs Wes Johnson and Jeremy Hefner developed for our pitchers,” said GM Thad Levine, referring to the pitching coach and assistant pitching coach. “The staff has worked seamlessly with the analytics department in a total collaborative effort.” (Tom Verducci, Yahoo).

Recommendation

The leap from one spot on the bench to another on a coaching staff is as difficult as it gets, and you can never be quite sure if someone was ready. The Mets learned that when they hired Mickey Callaway. On that front, Callaway, Dave Eiland, and Phil Regan, three people who had a positive impact on the Mets pitchers, especially the starting staff, are no longer here.

While we know Hefner can step in and help pitchers adapt, we are not quite sure where he is on issues like mechanics and the like. we also do not know the difficulty he could have in the transition from being a teammate with pitchers like Jacob deGrom to being their pitching coach. That is even with Hefner showing himself to be an effective communicator with real credibility in the clubhouse.

The one issue the Mets need not be too concerned is pairing with with a first time manager in Carlos Beltran. The Twins just did this in 2019 with Johnson and Rocco Baldelli, and it was successful partially due to the presence of Derek Shelton. To that end, hiring Hefner could put increased emphasis on the bench coach (as if there wasn’t enough already).

While there are potential red flags, it does seem like Hefner has the real potential to be a good pitching coach at the Major League level. If the Mets believe he is the best candidate for the job, they should certainly go out and hire him, especially at a time where they does not seem to be the Eiland level candidates available.