Carl Willis
Carl Blake Willis (born December 28, 1960) is an American former professional baseball pitcher and the current pitching coach for the Cleveland Indians of the Major League Baseball (MLB). He was previously the pitching coach for the Boston Red Sox and the Seattle Mariners.
| Carl Willis | |||
|---|---|---|---|
.jpg.webp) Willis as pitching coach of the Boston Red Sox in 2017 | |||
| Cleveland Indians – No. 51 | |||
| Pitcher / Pitching coach | |||
| Born: December 28, 1960 Danville, Virginia | |||
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| MLB debut | |||
| June 9, 1984, for the Detroit Tigers | |||
| Last MLB appearance | |||
| May 3, 1995, for the Minnesota Twins | |||
| MLB statistics | |||
| Win–loss record | 22–16 | ||
| Earned run average | 4.25 | ||
| Strikeouts | 222 | ||
| Teams | |||
As player
As coach
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| Career highlights and awards | |||
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Willis played for nine seasons in the majors as a relief pitcher for the Detroit Tigers, Cincinnati Reds, Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Twins.
Playing career
Willis was a member of one World Series championship team: the Twins in the 1991 World Series.[1] In nine seasons he had a 22-16 win–loss record, 267 games, 2 games started, 81 games finished, 13 saves, 390 innings pitched, 424 hits allowed, 210 runs allowed, 184 earned runs allowed, 28 home runs allowed, 115 walks allowed, 222 strikeouts, 2 hit batsmen, 20 wild pitches, 1,668 batters faced, 25 intentional walks, 3 balks and a 4.25 ERA.
Coaching career
From 2003 to 2009 he served as the pitching coach for the Cleveland Indians.[2]
On November 30, 2009, Willis was named the Seattle Mariners minor-league pitching coordinator.[3] On August 9, 2010, Willis was promoted to the Seattle Mariners coaching staff as the new pitching coach, replacing Rick Adair who was fired along with manager Don Wakamatsu and bench coach Ty Van Burkleo. He served in this capacity until 2013.
Willis has had five pitchers win Cy Young Awards during his time as their pitching coach: CC Sabathia in 2007, Cliff Lee in 2008, Félix Hernández in 2010, Rick Porcello in 2016, and Shane Bieber in 2020.[4]
In 2015, Willis was named to be the pitching coach for the Columbus Clippers in the Cleveland Indians organization.
On May 9, 2015, Willis was named as the pitching coach for the Boston Red Sox, replacing Juan Nieves.[5]
On October 26th, 2017, Willis was re-hired by the Indians as pitching coach, replacing Mickey Callaway.[6]
References
- "Carl Willis Stats, Fantasy & News". MLB.com.
- "Manager and Coaches". Cleveland Indians.
- Hoynes, Paul (November 25, 2009). "Seattle hires former Indians pitching coach Carl Willis". cleveland.com.
- @JonHeyman (November 11, 2020). "Indians pitching coach Carl Willis has now had 5 Cy Young winners: Bieber joins Felix Hernandez, CC Sabathia, Cliff Lee and Rick Porcello" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- Dispatch, Jim Massie, The Columbus. "Baseball: Clippers pitching coach Carl Willis leaving for Red Sox". The Columbus Dispatch.
- Hoynes, Paul (October 26, 2017). "Cleveland Indians hire Carl Willis as their new pitching coach". cleveland.com.
Further reading
- McClary, Mike. "Carl Willis". SABR.
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Carl Willis. |
- Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball-Reference (Minors), or Retrosheet
| Preceded by Mike Brown Mickey Callaway |
Cleveland Indians pitching coach 2003–2009 2018–present |
Succeeded by Tim Belcher incumbent |
| Preceded by Rick Adair |
Seattle Mariners pitching coach 2010–2013 |
Succeeded by Rick Waits |
| Preceded by Juan Nieves |
Boston Red Sox pitching coach 2015–2017 |
Succeeded by Dana LeVangie |