Craig Counsell’s staff is starting to take shape. The Cubs are expected to hire Ryan Flaherty to act as their new bench coach, per Britt Ghiroli.
Flaherty played for eight seasons from 2012-2019, then immediately got into coaching in November of 2019 as an advance scout and development coach for the Padres. The Padres promoted Flaherty to bench coach in February and he acted as the interim manager for a bit in 2022 when Bob Melvin underwent surgery.
The move to Chicago is a pseudo-homecoming for Flaherty. The Cubs drafted Flaherty in the first round of the 2008 MLB draft, but he never played for the team. The Orioles selected Flaherty from the Cubs in the 2011 Rule 5 draft, and Flaherty made his MLB debut with Baltimore in 2012.
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According to several reports, the Cubs are going to retain hitting coach Dustin Kelly and pitching coach Tommy Hottovy, who each worked under David Ross. Hottovy’s tenure as Cubs pitching coach dates back to December 2018. Last season was Kelly’s first campaign as the team’s hitting coach.
The Cubs made the surprise move to hire Craig Counsell away from the Milwaukee Brewers earlier this month, even though Ross was still employed by the team.