Cincinnati Reds lose their Triple-A pitching coach to USC Trojans

When Minnesota Twins pitching coach Wes Johnson left his first-place team to take the pitching coach job at LSU in June, it shocked the baseball industry and people wondered if it would turn into a trend.

It’s still to be determined if colleges poaching coaches from professional baseball becomes more common, but it hit the Cincinnati Reds on Monday. Seth Etherton, the Reds' pitching coach at Triple-A Louisville, will leave the team after he accepted the pitching coach job at Southern California, his alma mater.

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Losing Etherton is a big loss for the Reds’ player development staff. Etherton, 45, was in his seventh year in the organization, the club’s second-longest tenured pitching coach. He was the pitching coach at rookie-level Billings from 2016-17, Low-A Dayton from 2018-19 and Louisville in 2021-22.

The Reds will have Elmer Dessens fill Etherton’s spot on Louisville’s coaching staff for at least the immediate future. One of the Reds’ pitching coordinators, Casey Weathers or Bryan Conger, could finish the season in that role. Dessens, who is in his 10th year in the organization, was one of the Reds’ two pitching coaches in the rookie-level Arizona League.

New USC head baseball coach Andy Stankiewicz called Reds farm director Shawn Pender to express his interest in hiring Etherton, so the Reds were aware of the potential outcome. Etherton, who won a national title and was the national player of the year at USC in 1998, spent two years as a college pitching coach at the University of San Francisco before joining the Reds.

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The Reds, naturally, wish they weren’t losing a valuable pitching coach in the middle of the season, but Pender said he’s thrilled for Etherton on a personal level. Etherton lives in Orange County, California, during the offseason, and he’ll be closer to his four children.

Etherton worked with many of the Reds’ pitchers on the big-league staff, particularly Hunter Greene at Dayton and Louisville.

"Unreal coach and unreal human," Reds pitcher Tejay Antone wrote on Instagram. "Just great guy all around."

Packy Naughton, a former Reds prospect now pitching for the St. Louis Cardinals, wrote: "Would not be where I am today without Seth. Changed my career."

There is typically better pay for college coaches than minor league coaches despite the shorter season. Johnson, a big-league pitching coach, was set to earn $400,000 from the Twins this year, according to The Athletic, and he’ll earn at least $380,000 per year from LSU with the potential to significantly raise that figure through postseason incentives.

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SNUBBED? It’s been a career year for Reds third baseman Brandon Drury, but he wasn’t selected to the National League All-Star team.

Drury leads the Reds with a .277 batting average, and he ranks among the NL leaders in several categories, including slugging percentage (.540, sixth), runs (53, ninth), homers (18, eighth) and RBI (50, 11th).

The Reds didn’t have anybody selected after the players voted on reserves, so the league chose Luis Castillo as the team’s representative. MLB had six selections to fill the NL roster and it chose four pitchers and two position players.

There are late replacements every year because of injuries and players who bypass the All-Star Game, but that could be an uphill battle for Drury because Atlanta’s Austin Riley was another deserving third baseman who wasn’t picked.

“With Brandon, it doesn’t change a thing about his season,” Reds Manager David Bell said. “The first time I talked to him in spring training, he knew he was going to show this. He came out and he did it. All-Star Game or not, this is who he is.”

REHAB GAMES: Justin Dunn, one of the four players the Reds received in the Jesse Winker/Eugenio Suárez trade, is scheduled to make his next rehab start in Triple-A on Tuesday.

Dunn, a right-hander, is expected to throw five innings (around 75-80 pitches). With Luis Castillo and Tyler Mahle available on the trade market, Dunn could be an option to fill their spot in the rotation if a trade is completed this month.

Outfielders Aristides Aquino (left high ankle sprain, 10-day injured list) and Jake Fraley (fractured left big toe, 60-day IL) could begin rehab assignments as early as Wednesday. Both players have been hitting, running and fielding balls in the outfield before games.

SURGERY COMPLETE: Reds reliever Lucas Sims underwent season-ending microdiscectomy surgery for the bulging disc in his back last Thursday in Los Angeles.

Sims is expected to have a normal offseason and be ready for spring training in 2023.

GOSHEN SHIRTS: Many Reds players and coaches wore red shirts that read: "Take care of each other. Goshen strong." It was a way to signal support for people impacted by the EF2 tornado that touched down in Goshen Township last Wednesday.

The shirts were organized by Brad Epstein, the Reds' director of physical therapy, and a few players. Epstein's wife, Randi, works at one of the schools in Goshen, Bell said.

"We know a lot of people are hurting there and struggling," said Bell, who wore the shirt to his pregame press conference Sunday. "Just from the Reds and our team, reaching out to do everything we can to support the community."

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Reds lose coach Seth Etherton joins USC baseball staff; Brandon Drury