Frank Viola skips two levels to become Triple-A pitching coach

Earlier this week the Mets announced that Frank Viola would be the pitching coach for Wally Backman in Triple-A Las Vegas. Viola, who has won raves for his work in this role, takes over for Randy St. Claire, who was also generally well-regarded as a pitching coach.

This will be Viola’s fourth year as a pitching coach. He began in 2011 in short-season Brooklyn and he spent the past two years working for Lo-A Savannah. After three years tutoring pitchers who had the good fortune to perform in pitcher-friendly ballparks, it will be interesting to see what happens when Viola’s troops have to ply their craft in one of the more friendlier hitting environments in the minors.

In fact, the whole Viola promotion is interesting. Normally, fans could not care less who the pitching coach of one of their minor league affiliates is. But it’s hard not to notice Viola skipping both Hi-A and Double-A. Phil Regan has been the pitching coach at St. Lucie for several years, so perhaps he has no desire to be anywhere else. But Glenn Abbott has coached all over the country and started out with the Mets in Savannah. He’s spent the past two seasons in Double-A, where he’s worked with every pitching prospect upon whom the Mets pin their future hopes.

Perhaps it’s as simple as Backman preferring Viola. The two were teammates briefly, but it may come as a surprise to learn that it was in Minnesota and not New York. The Mets traded Backman to the Twins following the 1988 season and they acquired Viola on July 31st 1989.

More likely, it’s the front office wanting Viola to help put the finishing touches on top prospects like Rafael Montero and Noah Syndergaard. This will be the third time that Viola and Montero have worked together. Montero was briefly a member of the Cyclones the year that Viola was their pitching coach and they both were at Savannah in 2012 the first half of the season before Montero got the call to the Florida State League.

Matt Eddy of Baseball America did a nice piece on the Savannah pitching staff in late April of 2012. There are quotes from Viola on Domingo Tapia and Michael Fulmer. But there’s also this on Montero:

Viola rattled off the things he likes about Montero in quick succession: “He has a very good idea how to pitch, he’s a strike thrower, he’s aggressive in the zone, he pitches to contact.”

What he doesn’t have at this point is a feel for his secondary stuff every time out. “He throws three pitches: a fastball he spots terrifically, an improving slider and a changeup that’s getting better. He’s around the plate at 93-94 (mph), so for him it’s about figuring out the game more, taking more in as far as people giving him feedback.

“When he came over from the Dominican Republic he didn’t speak a lot of English, but he’s learning that and also learning how to pitch.”

The interesting thing to me is that in early 2012, the slider is considered better than the change. Now, let’s look at a scouting report from Jeffrey Paternostro of Amazin’ Avenue at the end of 2013:

Secondaries are a mixed bag. The slider is a low 80s offering that is below-average at present day, and Montero struggles to get it to break downard. It’s too often a sweepy pitch, and he throws his fair share of cement mixers, including one that got parked in the start I saw. The change-up is the better present-day offering. It’s a bit firm, but features some late fade (almost like a hop) away from left-handed batters. Both secondaries are potentially average major league offerings, but neither is there yet.

Perhaps Viola is in Triple-A to put the finishing touches on Montero’s changeup. Anyone who saw Viola pitch knows he had a tremendous change of pace in his arsenal. Viola has always been quick to credit former Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Johnny Podres for teaching him the change.

Wouldn’t it be something if a future Mets star in Montero would owe his success, even if only indirectly, to a former Brooklyn Dodgers star in Podres?