New pitching coach - Mike Steele

[RoyalShock]

http://goshockers.com/news/2016/6/21/baseball-mike-steele-named-pitching-coach-at-wsu.aspx

[Onegreatracer]

I'm really OK with this hire, seems to be a solid coach.

[Play Angry]

Looks like a pretty good get under these circumstances. Hopefully he finds success here.

[SB Shock]

Solid hire.

In May of 2008, Steele broke into the minor league coaching ranks with the High-A Lynchburg Hillcats as a midseason addition to the minor league club's staff. He stayed within the Pirates organization for the next five years as a pitching coach. He spent the 2009 and 2010 seasons with the Single-A Short Season State College Spikes and then moved on to the High-A Bradenton Marauders in 2011 and 2012. In 2013, he spent the season with the Single-A Short Season Jamestown Jammers.

During his time as a minor league pitching coach, Steele mentored several young pitchers who are now pitching in the MLB. Some of the major league arms he has mentored are Gerrit Cole, Brandon Cumpton, Casey Sadler, Vic Black, Phil Irwin, Duke Welker and Kyle McPherson. He played a vital role in selecting and signing the Pirates first round pick this year and has gained a reputation for spotting young talent.

Prior to his time within the Pirates organization, Steele spent the 2006 and 2007 seasons at Michigan State as the Spartans' pitching coach. His collegiate coaching experience immediately followed his professional career. He spent six years in the minors as a relief pitcher after being drafted in the 29th round by the Detroit Tigers.

He was a three-time All-Star in the minor leagues before undergoing Tommy John surgery and missing the entire 2002 season. He racked up 23 saves with a 1.93 ERA between Single-A and High-A affiliates in 2001. After his surgery, Steele was selected by the Seattle Mariners in the Rule 5 draft and spent three years in their farm system and retired after the 2005 season.

Steele played collegiately for two seasons at Central Michigan University after spending his freshman year at St. Clair County Community College and his sophomore season at Grand Rapids Community College. He was a Junior College All-American as a pitcher and outfielder and an All-MAC second team pitcher at CMU.

[SB Shock]

Long Beach State coach said:

“The one thing we’re doing is we’re really pitching,” said coach Troy Buckley.“In the past, coming off of last year, we lost the whole rotation the year before last year. So at least from a mentality standpoint for the [coaching] staff, it’s like, ‘Yeah, OK, so what?’ Sometimes you wake up in the morning and wonder how you’re going to replace 274 innings or whatever, you have a little cold sweat once in a while. But for the most part it’s a new opportunity for guys. We like our new arms, and they’ve been really good.”



Buckley said his best recruit was Mike Steele -- his new pitching coach.

LBS team ERA in 2016 was 3.16, Ranked 16 in nation.

[ShockTalk]

OK. I'm very happy for the hire.

However, I also have to ask why would he come here? At this point, I'm not sure this is even a lateral move for Coach Steele.

LB St travelled across the country to play in the Coral Gables Regional going 2-2 and in losing to Miami.

As @SB Shock: posted, LBS team ERA in 2016 was 3.16, Ranked 16 in nation.

[ShockdaWorld]

OK. I'm very happy for the hire.

However, I also have to ask why would he come here? At this point, I'm not sure this is even a lateral move for Coach Steele.

LB St travelled across the country to play in the Coral Gables Regional going 2-2 and in losing to Miami.

As @SB Shock posted, LBS team ERA in 2016 was 3.16, Ranked 16 in nation.

Maybe he doesn't yet realize how the mighty Shocks have fallen?

[DUShock]

OK. I'm very happy for the hire.

However, I also have to ask why would he come here? At this point, I'm not sure this is even a lateral move for Coach Steele.

LB St travelled across the country to play in the Coral Gables Regional going 2-2 and in losing to Miami.

As @SB Shock: posted, LBS team ERA in 2016 was 3.16, Ranked 16 in nation.

I too am pleased with the hire. Like @ShockTalk: I wonder why leave LBS to come to Wichita, however it might be as simple as family.

Despite my skepticism toward the program, I sincerely hope that HCTB and crew get things turned around. I will gladly eat humble pie with a rapid program turn around.

Winning cures most ills.

Go Shocks!

[AndShock]

HCIW?

[shocks771]

Seems like a very solid hire. Hope this starts our turnaround.

[Dan]

Looks like a good hire. With the young talent, incoming recruits and new pitching coach, we need to give Butler a couple years to get the momentum going the other way. It might be painful, but at least he can't complain about players or coaches that he inherited.

[SB Shock]

OK. I'm very happy for the hire.

However, I also have to ask why would he come here? At this point, I'm not sure this is even a lateral move for Coach Steele.

LB St travelled across the country to play in the Coral Gables Regional going 2-2 and in losing to Miami.

As @SB Shock: posted, LBS team ERA in 2016 was 3.16, Ranked 16 in nation.

I kind of asked myself that initially also, but as I checked his biography out it seems like he has Midwest ties. Then u add in moving to lower cost of living region, probably better pay - he probably seeing a much higher standard of living for his family.

[WuShock16]

Very solid hire!

I know that a lot of people around town are down on the program and on Todd right now (with very good reasoning), but this hire shows that the outside perception of Shocker Baseball and of Todd seems to still be strong.

I hope this can be a good step to get things turned around.

[newshock1234]

wow, was expecting a very underwhelming hire. This is about as good of a hire as you were going to get.

[Cdizzle]

With the young talent, incoming recruits and new pitching coach, we need to give Butler a couple years to get the momentum going the other way.

And then we can fire the hitting instructor and get a couple more years to turn things around after that? And by then we'd definitely need a new scoreboard to keep up, so we could get one of those and give a couple of years to get things rolling? And at that point, frankly, the stadium will be getting quite antiquated and we'd probably have to replace it to really be fair.

On the other hand, I will echo sentiments of others here. I'm not sure what's in it for Mr. Steele, but this is, on paper, a better hire than I was anticipating.