Ben Cherington‘s front office is growing.
On Wednesday, the Red Sox’ general manager confirmed that the club has hired former Royals pitching coach Bob McClure in a “hybrid role,” according to MLB.com.
McClure was recently let go after his sixth as the Royals’ pitching coach, but he won’t be seeing any time in the Sox’ dugout next summer.
“He’s going to be kind of a hybrid role, do some professional scouting for us, do some work on the field at the minor league level as a special assistant to player development,” Cherington said.
Following a 19-year playing career, McClure worked as a pitching coach for the Colorado Rockies organization from 1999 through 2005, including four seasons at Triple-A Colorado Springs. In 2006 then-Royals manager Buddy Bell asked McClure to replace Guy Hansen as their new pitching coach.
“He’s got a great pitching background,” Cherington said of McClure who went 12-7 for the 1982 American League champion Brewers. “He’s had a lot of success with young pitchers and had an interest in doing something a little bit different after last year in Kansas City.
“We’re going to expose him a little bit to the scouting side, which he hasn’t done a lot of, and get him on the field some,” Cherington added. “He’s a guy both Allard [Baird] and I have a great deal of respect for as a pitching guy, so we wanted to bring him to the organization, and this was a role that fit for him and for us.”
