For several years, the No. 1 thing that the Cincinnati Reds’ organization could hang its hat on was its pitching development operation.
The Brewers, Mets, Marlins, Rockies and Nationals hired coaches and pitching directors from the Reds’ system to try to bring the Reds’ system to their organization. In 2020 and 2025, Reds’ pitching carried the team to postseason berths.
In 2026, that pitching infrastructure collapsed.
Since 2021, Derek Johnson was the Reds’ big league pitching coach as well as the team’s organizational director of pitching. He effectively had three jobs in the organization. He coached the big league pitchers, he set the organizational philosophy and the points of emphasis for the Minor League pitchers and he had some front office responsibilities (for example, he met with Chase Burns before the Reds drafted him).
In June, Johnson took a personal leave of absence. He will not be returning in 2027.
Nick Krall issued a statement on Thursday saying, “We wish Derek and his family the best. A search for a new pitching coach will begin immediately.”
In a Q&A with reporters, Krall declined to shed light on what led to Johnson stepping away during the summer.
Minor league pitching coordinator Todd Naskedov is also no longer with the organization, Krall said.
The Reds are starting over from a pitching development standpoint.
“We need to make some changes,” Krall said. “We had 68 more walks and hit-by-pitches than the next-closest team. We need to throw strike one. Our pitching group has been very good. We have gotten a lot out of our pitchers over the last few years. But we need to throw strike one. We need to be able to get outs on top of that. Throwing strikes, being in the zone and being competitive in the zone is first and foremost.”
The first step will be hiring a big league pitching coach. Krall said that assistant pitching coaches Matt Tracy and Oscar Marin have interviewed for the job. The Reds will now begin interviewing external candidates. Krall said there’s no timeline to make a hire, but they’d like to get it done as quickly as possible.
Krall said that most likely, the Reds will not have a joint pitching coach/director of pitching role like they did with Johnson, but that has not been finalized. They’ll hire a big league pitching coach and “work from there.”
It’ll be a critically important hire for the Reds.
Looking ahead to 2027, Greene is most likely out for the year after having elbow surgery.
Chase Burns will lead the rotation.
The rest of the rotation took steps back in 2026. Krall said that Lodolo’s blister issue was a setback, Andrew Abbott “needs to get himself into better shape going into next year,” and Brandon Williamson and Rhett Lowder dealt with injury issues over the course of the year.
With Brady Singer hitting free agency, the depth behind Burns, Abbott, Lodolo, Lowder and Williamson (who hasn’t pitched much since 2023) is Carson Spiers and Jose Franco. Also, Burns, Lowder and Lodolo have yet to complete an entire season healthy.
Starting pitching will be a team need this offseason.
“We do need starting pitching,” Krall said. “We do need to figure out if there’s a way to add a starter to the mix or add competition to this mix somehow. Nick Martinez was able to pitch in the bullpen and in the starting rotation. We need to add some guys in both spots.”
The first step in this offseason will be whether or not Emilio Pagán opts out of his contract (he effectively has a $10 million player option for next season). Krall said that after Pagán returned from the IL in late June, he was one of the best relievers in the game.
Tony Santillan (hip) and Julian Garcia (loose bodies) are recovering from surgeries.
Brock Burke and Pierce Johnson will be free agents.
Graham Ashcraft, Tejay Antone and Luis Mey return to the bullpen mix.
Krall said that the Reds will have to “rebuild” some of their bullpen in 2027.
When they had to do that in 2026, they prioritized veteran additions (Burke, Johnson, Caleb Ferguson and re-signing Pagán). The Reds may need to do that again in 207.
“You can never have too much pitching,” Krall said.
The Reds also have prospects like Connor Phillips, Zach Maxwell and Chase Petty who should get a shot to show what they can do in the bullpen in 2027.
The Reds are lacking standout starting pitching prospects in the upper-level of their farm system, which looks like a big part of the reason why they need to overhaul their minor league pitching infrastructure.
Since 2000, the Reds’ best teams (2010, 2012, 2020, 2025) have been built around pitching. The Reds will need to get back to that level through better coaching that can get more out of pitchers like Abbott, Lodolo and Lowder and through better player development.
Really seems strange about Johnson. I haven’t heard anything about what happened with him. Not even rumors which you usually hear in such situations. Maybe I’ve just missed them. I hope everything is okay with him.
What really confuses me, beyond the Castellini's attrocious ownership, is the apparent philosphical change that happened over the course of one season regarding organization structure. Last year they promoted Valakia to be hitting coach and organizational hitting director, directly citing to the success of the Pitching side of the operation and wanting the hitting side to be more like the pitching.
Then Derek Johnson leaves because whatever he has going on (I have heard plenty of rumors, some more credible than others) and now the organization wants to split that role into two and like the hitting side was before last year? It doesn't make sense. Couple that with the complete confusion as to why in the hell are we not firing Valakia after genuinely one of the most pathetic hitting seasons outside of Sal and Elly I have ever seen from a team.
To be clear, organizationally, I understand seperating the coach from the person setting the overall development plan and strategy. That makes the most sense to me. But we should be committed to one strategy or the other and prefereably the strategy that involves firing Valakia as well.