The Baltimore Orioles have a ton of strong, young pitchers. For whatever reason, Leo Mazzone wasn't able to nurture them into stable major leaguers. Mazzone's failure led to his firing with a year still remaining on his contract in Baltimore. That opened the door for Rick Kranitz, who apparently chose the O's over a couple of other teams that were interested.Kranitz spent 22 years in the Cubs organization before taking on the role of pitching coach in Florida. He quickly made his mark, particularly working with young arms as The Baltimore Sun reports:
"What he brings to us is a level of expertise in mechanics, the ability to adapt to different styles of pitching and a real good communicator, which is something I think is going to be real important because I'd expect that we would basically have a very young pitching staff," Trembley said.
In 2006, Kranitz was named Baseball America's Major League Coach of the Year after four rookies on the Marlins' staff each won 10 games. Their rotation that year posted a 4.22 ERA, third-lowest in the National League. The 2007 bullpen had a 4.02 ERA that ranked as the third-best mark in team history.
So why leave? You tell me...
Kranitz resigned from the Marlins in September after rejecting a $5,000 raise. He was believed to be the lowest-paid pitching coach in the majors.
With the dust not yet settled from the 2007 season, Baltimore is already building for 2008, a good sign for the fans. They are still searching for a first base coach and a bench coach to round out Dave Trembley's staff.
