Zombro gets Promoted

[Bertz]

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Zombro’s promotion may seem aggressive after just one season with the team, his first as a full-time employee in any front office. However, the Washington Nationals pursued Zombro to serve as their major-league pitching coach and offered him the opportunity to impact the entire organization’s pitching department.

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Zombro’s primary focus this past season was on the major-league side, both in player acquisition and coaching, and that role will continue to grow. But his expertise will now also be used more in amateur scouting and player development.

I didn't realize he hadn't even really done anything with the minor leagues yet.  

[Jason Ross]

A few thoughts about everything:
1. It's about time that Washington does something about their pitching infrastructure. Sorry it's not Zombro (I'd rather he be here) but they need to overhaul that nonsense. 
2. Glad the Cubs have recognized Tyler Zombro as an important part of the pitching infrastructure.
3. Curious to see how this affects the draft - the Cubs haven't gone super pitching heavy recently. With the dearth of arms in the system, I suspect we'll see heavy arms and heavy Zombro influence
4. Interested to see how the Cubs develop arms. There's been a bit of a throughline of low-arm slot, high cut-ride guys in the MLB side of things since last year (obviously not every arm but a throughline of most). Might be kind of a cool "breakout" year for an arm or two with characteristics that Zombro likes?

[Guest]

10 minutes ago, Jason Ross said:

A few thoughts about everything:
1. It's about time that Washington does something about their pitching infrastructure. Sorry it's not Zombro (I'd rather he be here) but they need to overhaul that nonsense. 
2. Glad the Cubs have recognized Tyler Zombro as an important part of the pitching infrastructure.
3. Curious to see how this affects the draft - the Cubs haven't gone super pitching heavy recently. With the dearth of arms in the system, I suspect we'll see heavy arms and heavy Zombro influence
4. Interested to see how the Cubs develop arms. There's been a bit of a throughline of low-arm slot, high cut-ride guys in the MLB side of things since last year (obviously not every arm but a throughline of most). Might be kind of a cool "breakout" year for an arm or two with characteristics that Zombro likes?

First of all, I do have an emotional connection towards Zombro because of what happened in 2021 (a brain injury, I believe). 

This is, unfortunately, a reflection of the fact that the Cubs may be impressed by his style, one I dislike in terms of its inconsistency, but altogether influential in its potential power. Will Y=Y* ever? Probably at some point, but not at this moment.

I did see the fact that the Cubs will be leaning towards pitching, considering the fact that they have to diversify their portfolio. And it's interesting to see the possible outcomes, but I am expecting some pitchers to get signed in the next week. 

Of course, you constantly enchant yourself with the fact that Zombro's characteristics (notably the pop-up nonsense) are receiving increasing prominence. I'm glad he gets to be active in baseball, but I do not agree at all with his coaching/pitching philosophy.

Edited December 13, 2025 by The Cubs Dude

[Bertz]

19 minutes ago, Jason Ross said:

A few thoughts about everything:
1. It's about time that Washington does something about their pitching infrastructure. Sorry it's not Zombro (I'd rather he be here) but they need to overhaul that nonsense. 
2. Glad the Cubs have recognized Tyler Zombro as an important part of the pitching infrastructure.
3. Curious to see how this affects the draft - the Cubs haven't gone super pitching heavy recently. With the dearth of arms in the system, I suspect we'll see heavy arms and heavy Zombro influence
4. Interested to see how the Cubs develop arms. There's been a bit of a throughline of low-arm slot, high cut-ride guys in the MLB side of things since last year (obviously not every arm but a throughline of most). Might be kind of a cool "breakout" year for an arm or two with characteristics that Zombro likes?

I remember last summer wanting another '22 style draft explicitly to lean on Zombro’s expertise.  Now that he's actually focused on the draft hopefully we actually get it in '26.

And yeah his whole deal is supposed to be about properly accentuating what a guy naturally does (e.g. low slot supinators get a very different reco than high slot pronators), but when the world is his oyster who does he stock up on?  Gonna be fun to find out.

Also hopefully we get A LOT more breakouts on the farm.  Last year was basically Wiggins, Gallagher, and Florentino as guys who look like they might have some impact? (and of course Gallagher is gone)

[Jason Ross]

9 minutes ago, Bertz said:

I remember last summer wanting another '22 style draft explicitly to lean on Zombro’s expertise.  Now that he's actually focused on the draft hopefully we actually get it in '26.

And yeah his whole deal is supposed to be about properly accentuating what a guy naturally does (e.g. low slot supinators get a very different reco than high slot pronators), but when the world is his oyster who does he stock up on?  Gonna be fun to find out.

Also hopefully we get A LOT more breakouts on the farm.  Last year was basically Wiggins, Gallagher, and Florentino as guys who look like they might have some impact? (and of course Gallagher is gone)

Yeah the draft should be really fun. Especially drafting late in the 1st. That feels prime "take an upside arm" area. I'm really excited as to which arms someone like Zombro likes in the draft. 

Kantrovitz has been a good drafter, but adding Zombro with someone like Ty Nichols feels like it could be a cheat code.

[Guest]

14 minutes ago, Bertz said:

I remember last summer wanting another '22 style draft explicitly to lean on Zombro’s expertise.  Now that he's actually focused on the draft hopefully we actually get it in '26.

And yeah his whole deal is supposed to be about properly accentuating what a guy naturally does (e.g. low slot supinators get a very different reco than high slot pronators), but when the world is his oyster who does he stock up on?  Gonna be fun to find out.

Also hopefully we get A LOT more breakouts on the farm.  Last year was basically Wiggins, Gallagher, and Florentino as guys who look like they might have some impact? (and of course Gallagher is gone)

What I do like about this is that it is a compromise between Carter's 2032 tactic in terms of building up strong repertoire and a decently good expertise in '26, and I do like his "scientific" approach to pitching, I would argue. 

Didn't Gallagher go to the Twins affiliates or something?

Wiggins and Florentino seem like good options--we need that "raw power" phase that eventually turns itself into maturity.

Edited December 13, 2025 by The Cubs Dude

[Stratos]

I remember when the Cubs did a similar thing when they promoted Hottovy to head pitching coach.  He was young and pretty new and inexperienced on the MLB side but talented and was getting interest from other teams so the Cubs knew that if they didn't promote him that some other team was likely to poach him for a similar position.

Glad to keep Zombro in the org.  Besides the pitching knowledge he has obvious inside connections to Tread and it seems to be bearing fruit this offseason as the Cubs have signed some Tread pitchers already.

My thinking is that in order for a team to be the best in the game on the field it means they should strive to be the best in every single aspect of the org at all levels, not just signing the best players.  Just settling on being "good" at certain things isn't good enough IMO.  Zombro seems like an elite piece at what he does.