Nola.com Article: Wes Johnson Left Pro Game to Build Confidence of LSU's Staff

[East Coast Twin]

The article about Wes Johnson's departure from Twins for LSU.

https://www.nola.com/sports/lsu/wes-johnson-building-toughness-confidence-for-lsu-pitching/article_7a8abfe8-a72a-11ed-9c86-cf1cd409181f.html

[Squirrel]

2 minutes ago, East Coast Twin said:

The article about Wes Johnson's departure from Twins for LSU.

https://www.nola.com/sports/lsu/wes-johnson-building-toughness-confidence-for-lsu-pitching/article_7a8abfe8-a72a-11ed-9c86-cf1cd409181f.html

This is behind a paywall for me ... could you give a summary?

[wsnydes]

Based only on the headline, that seems like a strange reason to make a move.

[nicksaviking]

11 minutes ago, wsnydes said:

Based only on the headline, that seems like a strange reason to make a move.

Yeah, sounds like a subpar headline written by a small-time local reporter and editor.  Wes Johnson left the pro game AND he wants to build confidence in the LSU staff. Not BECAUSE.

[wsnydes]

2 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

Yeah, sounds like a subpar headline written by a small-time local reporter and editor.  Wes Johnson left the pro game AND he wants to build confidence in the LSU staff. Not BECAUSE.

Exactly.  Why would anyone outside of LSU care about the confidence level of the staff enough to leave another job?  Especially in MLB.  

Seems like the headline should really read something along the lines of "Wes Johnson looks to build confidence in LSU staff after leaving pro game".

[chpettit19]

Yeah, there wasn't a lot in there. Same stuff as he's been saying all along. Left to be closer to his kids, and now grandkids, and not be on the road so much. Wants to be by family. Said there's never really a good time to leave a job. Wouldn't have gone back to college for a job that wasn't with a head coach he believed in, and without a shot to win titles. Is looking forward to working with the young kids and helping them improve.

[East Coast Twin]

3 hours ago, Squirrel said:

This is behind a paywall for me ... could you give a summary?

Not sure why you have a paywall.  I don't have a membership but can see the article. 

I found his quote about leaving Arkansas previously for the Twins interesting.  Perhaps a bit of a rationalization for leaving the Twins in the middle of the season.

“When I left to go to the Twins, you're at Arkansas — you just finished your fall seasons, is that the ideal time? No. There's never an ideal time,” 

 

 

[IA Bean Counter]

Tells me probably not very satisfied with Twins employment and the home dynamics were taking a toll.  Wish he would have finished out the year, but understandable the position likely wouldn't be available.  You just don't see many drop from the pros to the college ranks or vice versa.   

[Doctor Gast]

I know some people won't like it but LSU should have a pretty good team. Maybe we can get some heads up, coming around draft time somewhere down the line.

[Danchat]

I'm guessing the primary reasons had more to do with $$$ and being able to work close to home than most anything else brought up.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

Paul Skenes, a pitcher at LSU was an All American 2 years at Air Force Academy before he transfered to LSU, where he said he wanted to work with the LSU coaches. Hmmmm. His freshman year at the Air Force Academy, he was co-freshman of the year with Dylan Crews who plays at (drum roll please) ... LSU.  Crews is picked by Calis as the # 1 selection in this year's draft. Skenes is projected by Calis as the second best college pitcher and # 4 among college players in this years draft. Just like the RONCO commercial...but wait, there's more. Skenes got the John Olrud award for the best 2 way college player in the nation last year. He throws  99 mph. He is 6' 6" and weighs 235.  He hit for power and a .300 average and plays 1B.  Calis has him ranked as a 3rd round of selection if  he were only  selected as a position player and not a pitcher. He projects to be drafted as a pitcher.  His fastball is rated as a 70. His slider, which Calis calls a "beast with a sharp break" is rated 60 and his change up is a 50. I hope Wes Johnson and the Twins parted ways on good terms.

[Doctor Gast]

Wes Johnson is a great coach. He instilled confidence besides feeding data to his pitchers, he was very personal.

[Twodogs]

It's only a guess, but just from what I've observed.  Seems like maybe Wes and the Twins didn't see eye to eye about something?  I mean with leaving mid season and making a backwards move.  From pros to college.  I mean you don't see hardly any lateral moves mid season.  I'm not saying that the Twins and Wes had an ugly divorce or anything, but it could have been a break up where Wes just felt like his relationship with the Twins wasn't going in the direction he would like.  I get the family stuff, but a lot of times those types of quotes are thrown around so as to not stir up controversy etc.....

 

Hope he does well at LSU.

[ashbury]

10 hours ago, Twodogs said:

It's only a guess, but just from what I've observed.  Seems like maybe Wes and the Twins didn't see eye to eye about something?  I mean with leaving mid season and making a backwards move. 

Backwards in some sense but he apparently came away with more money.  A LOT more money.

[Squirrel]

7 minutes ago, ashbury said:

Backwards in some sense but he apparently came away with more money.  A LOT more money.

A lot more money, less travel, more time with and closer to family ... no brainer ... and getting college coaches ... does that happen often? I thought when we hired him, it was unusual for an MLB team to get a college coach; but I could be remembering wrong

[Twodogs]

53 minutes ago, ashbury said:

Backwards in some sense but he apparently came away with more money.  A LOT more money.

Oh I didn't know that.  That's good for him for sure.  

[AlwaysinModeration]

On 2/14/2023 at 7:44 PM, Doctor Gast said:

I know some people won't like it but LSU should have a pretty good team. Maybe we can get some heads up, coming around draft time somewhere down the line.

They are ranked #1 in the country in the D1 baseball preseason poll.

Skenes pitched 6 innings in their opener yesterday, 12Ks, hit 99 on the gun.

[Doctor Gast]

40 minutes ago, AlwaysinModeration said:

They are ranked #1 in the country in the D1 baseball preseason poll.

Skenes pitched 6 innings in their opener yesterday, 12Ks, hit 99 on the gun.

Pretty awesome!

[theBOMisthebomb]

Yes, I hit the paywall, too so could only scanc quickly before getting locked out of the article.

Anyway, I'm still not happy with Wes for leaving on the Twins midseason like he did and lost some respect for him.  

[specialiststeve]

On 2/16/2023 at 6:46 PM, ashbury said:

Backwards in some sense but he apparently came away with more money.  A LOT more money.

Bingo! Timing was fairly bushleague but ...

That was/is our BIG issue was our handling of our pitching. Was an F after Wes left. Not sure how Maki kept his job. Was the one BIG move that I expected the Twins to make that they didn't. If Maki and Baldelli handle the staff comparably it doesn't matter who is in the rotation or bullpen. Baldelli's lack of feel for the game and when to make a pitching move or NOT to make a move is glaring. We shall see. 

[Mike Sixel]

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/the-new-lsu-part-1-wes-johnson-goes-back-to-school/