Cleveland Indians: Who could replace Mickey Callaway as pitching coach?

The Longshots

Charles Nagy – current Los Angeles Angels pitching coach

This is a name I’ve seen thrown around a lot online and while I understand why, it makes little sense to me. I love Charles Nagy and would love to see him back in Cleveland as a coach. He worked as both a coach and front office guy in Cleveland in the past so on that front he makes sense.

However, I just can’t see the Angels letting Nagy go for a lateral move. Teams almost never allow this and with the Angels looking to make the playoffs it is even less likely. He did a great job with Angels pitching staff in 2017, possibly the best pitching coach work we saw in 2017. The Angels will do everything to keep him. Well, at least they should.

Bruce Chen – Cleveland Indians Cultural Development

This one is admittingly a long shot but as a former big league starter, one can’t help but at least include Bruce Chen. He pitched ever so briefly with the Indians a couple years ago and has joined the organization in an assistant role with the minor leagues in “cultural development.”

I doubt the Indians would go with someone so inexperienced but the club does think outside the box at times.

David Wallace – Cleveland Indians Special Assignment

Another long shot, David Wallace is more a pipe dream to join the staff somehow. He was named minor league manager of the year by Baseball America in 2016 when he was with the Double-A Akron RubberDucks. He looked like he was on the fast track to a big league job. However, he decided before the season that he wanted to spend more time with his family, something we’ve seen Travis Fryman do as well.

Wallace has worked more with catchers than pitchers in his career but we’ve seen catchers turn into pitching coaches before and perhaps he gets a look. The Indians are very high on him as a coach and if he decides to return to the dugout could find himself in Cleveland.

So what do you think of the options the Cleveland Indians have to replace Mickey Callaway? Who is your favorite and did I leave anyone off that you think is a good choice?

Next: Expansion and realignment could hurt the Indians

I’m sure there is at least one candidate I failed to mention (perhaps Brian Bannister?), but I’m confident whomever the Indians chose, it’ll be a good one. The Indians have been great at finding the right coaching, especially on the pitching side lately.