Craig Counsell Adds Coach from Yankees Organization
Cubs Hire New First Base Coach
The Chicago Cubs have finally hired a new third base coach and it’s 32-year-old Jose Javier, who will be in his first MLB coaching staff. Javier was working in the New York Yankees organization in 2024, working with the team’s Triple-A affiliate as a defensive coach.
Javier focused on coaching outfield defense and base running during his time in the Yankees’ farm system.
The Athletic’s Sahadev Sharma and Patrick Mooney reported the hire along with a few other additions to the Cubs’ player development staff.
Some Cubs coaching news from @PJ_Mooney and me. Craig Counsell has his first base coach along with some tidbits about player development staff. https://t.co/647ffIKANP
— Sahadev Sharma (@sahadevsharma) December 6, 2024
Javier spent six years playing in the minor leagues in the Yankees’ system from 2010-15.
Cubs Coaching Hires
Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell has promoted Casey Jacobson to replace Daniel Moskos as the team’s assistant pitching coach after Moskos left to become the head pitching coach for the Miami Marlins earlier this week.
Jacobson has been with the Cubs for the past five years and just finished up his second season as minor-league senior coordinator of pitching development. Prior to his time with the Cubs Jacobson worked for Driveline Baseball in Washington and spent six years coaching in college.
Via The Athletic.
Those within the organization laud Jacobson for his interpersonal skills and ability to connect with young pitchers by earning their trust by clearly delivering messages and tying it into what the player actually values. Multiple people in the organization noted his empathy with players and staff as he works to know who the human is in order to ensure that it’s clear he cares about a player’s development over his own self interests, which has helped with buy-in.
Counsell has made several changes to his coaching staff following the 2024 season. He’s already replaced Willie Harris with Quentin Berry as the third base coach, hired a new bullpen coach in Mark Strittmatter, while also promoting Mark Weisman and Kevin Poppe from the minor league staff to lead the big-league team’s strength and conditioning program.
Andy Haines, who was with the Cubs from 2016-18 and then served as the hitting coach for the Milwaukee Brewers and Pittsburgh Pirates, was also brought back to the organization this offseason.
We’ll see who the new first base coach will be once Counsell’s full 2025 coaching staff is announced soon.
One other hiring has gone under the radar and that’s Hall of Fame coach Jerry Weinstein. He announced on social media back in October that he was joining the Cubs, but we haven’t seen reporting on his position with the team. The only indication on what his role is comes from Weinstein’s LinkedIn page, where he lists his title as special assistant to the General Manager.
Hall of Fame Coach Joins Cubs
Hand up, I knew nothing about Jerry Weinstein before Monday night, when he announced that he’s joining the Cubs, but holy shit is his bio impressive. The hall of fame coach has been part of the Colorado Rockies organization for nearly the past two decades and his time as a coach goes all the way back to 1966, as a freshman coach at UCLA.
Weinstein, who will turn 81-years-old in November, is now ready for a new journey with the Cubs.
enough good things about the players as well. I can honestly say I never had a bad day. However, I have been offered an expanded role with the Cubs and I am looking forward to this new challenge.
— Jerry Weinstein (@JWonCATCHING) October 8, 2024
Very sincerely,
jw
The baseball lifer has pretty much done every job in the sport short of managing in the big leagues. Seriously, Weinstein has done it all, coaching in college, the minor leagues, college players in summer ball, while also working in player development and he’s also coached internationally for Team USA in several competitions and managed Team Israel in the 2017 World Baseball Classic.
That’s not all as Weinstein also authored co-authored Baseball Coach’s Survival Guide: Practical Techniques and Materials for Building an Effective Program and a Winning Team with Tom Alston. You might sarcastically think, oh an 80-year-old coach, must be pretty active, and well Weinstein actually is.
Throwing club from Oates Specialties to help players re pattern their arm path/arm swing from longer to shorter. pic.twitter.com/a7L3YVHPef
— Jerry Weinstein (@JWonCATCHING) October 5, 2024
Weinstein has been inducted into four different hall of fames throughout his life.
- Sacramento City College Athletic Hall of Fame
- California Community College Hall of Fame
- American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame
- Sacramento Baseball Hall of Fame
And just a few more accolades of note.
In 2018, he received Baseball America’s Tony Gwynn Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2020 he was named recipient of the American Baseball Coaches Association/Wilson Lefty Gomez Award for contributions to the game locally, nationally, and internationally.
What a career and it appears as though he’s still going strong.
Weinstein has been known for his work with developing catchers and while there hasn’t been any official word on what his role will be with the Cubs, it shouldn’t surprise us if he immediately goes to work with 20-year-old catching prospect Moises Ballesteros.
The top-100 Cubs prospect is currently playing the Arizona Fall League and despite his age Ballesteros already reached Triple-A this year. His development behind the plate could be vital in the Cubs success during the next decade and maybe Weinstein’s guidance can be the key to unlock Ballesteros’ full potential as a catcher at the big league level.
One last thing, pretty cool that Weinstein is also active on social media, constantly posting his insights online.
Whatever his role ends up being, looks like a home run hire from the Cubs.