Cubs Hire New Minor League Pitching Coordinator

The Cubs have hired Derek Johnson to become their new minor league pitching coordinator, tweets Baseball America's Aaron Fitt. Johnson was Associate Head Coach/pitching coach at Vanderbilt where he tutored six pitchers who were drafted in the first round including David Price and Sonny Gray.
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According to Baseball America, the Cubs have hired Derek Johnson as their new Minor League pitching coordinator. Johnson was the associate head coach/pitching coach at Vanderbilt, and tutored six pitchers who were drafted in the first round, including David Price and Sonny Gray.

Johnson recently finished his 12th season at Vanderbilt. He was named National Pitching coach of the Year in 2004 and National Assistant Coach of the Year in 2010. He helped guide the Commodores to the College World Series in 2011. Vanderbilt’s pitching staff that year led the Southeastern Conference in ERA and strikeouts, and had eight players who were selected in the Major League First-Year Player Draft, including first-round picks Sonny Gray and Grayson Garvin. A native of Normal, IL, Johnson began coaching at Eastern Illinois in 1994, and was Southern Illinois’ pitching coach for three seasons, beginning in ’95.

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Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin confirmed Monday that his longtime associate and one of college baseball’s most respected assistants is leaving to become the minor-league pitching coordinator for the Chicago Cubs.

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In 2003, he began a streak of 10 consecutive years with having at least one pitcher drafted. Vanderbilt has had 32 different pitchers drafted during Johnson’s tenure and six first-round draft picks (four in the top eight picks), including 2012 American League Cy Young candidate and 2007 college baseball national player of the year David Price, who was a No. 1 overall pick that June.

Johnson’s other first-rounders are Jeremy Sowers (2004), Casey Weathers (2007), Mike Minor (2009), Sonny Gray (2011) and Grayson Garvin (2011). Jensen Lewis, a third-round pick in 2005, joins Sowers, Price and Minor as Johnson’s pupils to reach the majors.

Vanderbilt’s 2011 draft class has Johnson’s stamp all over it, with pitchers accounting for eight of an SEC record-setting 12 Commodores taken. That season Vanderbilt reached the College World Series for the first time and tied for third in Omaha.

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I’ve had other opportunities with other jobs and I felt like … I’m an Illinois guy and I grew up watching the Cubs on WGN just about every day in the summer. I considered myself I Cubs fan growing up. That was part of the appeal. On the mature side of things, it was along the lines of I just felt good about the vision they have for what’s upcoming and what’s next for the organization, and I felt like they were going to give me the opportunity to be involved in that. That’s probably the main couple of reasons the Cubs appealed to me in the first place.

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