Carl Blake Willis (born December 28, 1960) is an American former professional baseball

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

and current pitching coach for the

Cleveland Guardians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB). He was previously the pitching coach for the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eigh ...

and the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The team joined the American League as an expansion team ...

. Willis played for nine seasons in the majors as a

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection, or for other strategic reasons, such as inclement weat ...

for the Detroit Tigers, Cincinnati Reds,

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

and Minnesota Twins. He is best known as a pitching coach for five Cy Young winners, the second most in MLB history.

Playing career

Willis was born on December 28, 1960, in

Danville, Virginia Danville is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States, located in the Southside Virginia region and on the fall line of the Dan River. It was a center of tobacco production and was an area of Confederate activity ...

. He grew up in

Yanceyville, North Carolina Yanceyville is a town in and the county seat of Caswell County, North Carolina, United States. Located in the Piedmont Triad region of the state, the town had a population of 1,937 at the 2020 census. The settlement was founded in 1792 and was ...

. After high school, he attended the

University of North Carolina at Wilmington The University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW or UNC Wilmington) is a public research university in Wilmington, North Carolina. It is part of the University of North Carolina System and enrolls 17,499 undergraduate and graduate students eac ...

. As a major leaguer, Willis was a member of one

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

championship team: the Twins in the

1991 World Series The 1991 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) held after the 1991 season. The 88th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the American League (AL) champion Minnesota Twins ...

. In nine seasons he had a 22–16 win–loss record, 267 games, 2 games started, 81 games finished, 13 saves, 390 innings pitched, 424 hits allowed, 210 runs allowed, 184 earned runs allowed, 28 home runs allowed, 115 walks allowed, 222 strikeouts, 2 hit batsmen, 20 wild pitches, 1,668 batters faced, 25 intentional walks, 3 balks and a 4.25 ERA. He was worth 1.9 career WAR according to

Baseball Reference Baseball-Reference is a website providing baseball statistics for every player in Major League Baseball history. The site is often used by major media organizations and baseball broadcasters as a source for statistics. It offers a variety of advan ...

Coaching career

From 2003 to 2009 he served as the pitching coach for the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...

. On November 30, 2009, Willis was named the

minor-league pitching coordinator. On August 9, 2010, Willis was promoted to the

coaching staff as the new pitching coach, replacing Rick Adair who was fired along with manager Don Wakamatsu and bench coach Ty Van Burkleo. He served in this capacity until 2013. In 2015, Willis was named to be the pitching coach for the Columbus Clippers in the

organization. On May 9, 2015, Willis was named as the pitching coach for the

, replacing

Juan Nieves Juan Manuel Nieves Cruz (born January 5, 1965) is a Puerto Rican professional baseball pitcher and coach who is currently the assistant pitching coach for the Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the Milwaukee Brewers of M ...

. On October 26, 2017, Willis was re-hired by the Indians as pitching coach, replacing

Mickey Callaway Michael Christopher Callaway (born May 13, 1975) is an American professional baseball coach and former pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played in MLB for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Anaheim Angels, and Texas Rangers and in the KBO Leagu ...

. Willis has had five pitchers win Cy Young Awards during his time as their pitching coach:

CC Sabathia Carsten Charles Sabathia Jr. (born July 21, 1980) is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 19 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), primarily with the New York Yankees. He also played for the Cleveland Indians and Milwauk ...

in 2007,

Cliff Lee Clifton Phifer Lee (born August 30, 1978) is an American former professional baseball starting pitcher who played for 13 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). Between 2002 and 2014 he played for four teams, most notably the Philadelphia Philli ...

in 2008,

Félix Hernández Félix Abraham Hernández García (born April 8, 1986), nicknamed "King Félix", is a Venezuelan former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners from 2005 through 2019. On August 15, 2 ...

in 2010,

Rick Porcello Frederick Alfred Porcello III (born December 27, 1988) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Detroit Tigers, Boston Red Sox and New York Mets. Selected by the Tigers in the 2007 MLB ...

in 2016, and Shane Bieber in 2020. In May 2022, Willis assumed managerial duties for a few games after a

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

outbreak among Guardians coaching staff that saw Manager

Terry Francona Terrence Jon Francona (born April 22, 1959), nicknamed "Tito", is an American baseball manager and former player who is the manager of the Cleveland Guardians in Major League Baseball (MLB). Previously, he was the manager of the Boston Red Sox fo ...

, First Base Coach

Sandy Alomar Jr. Santos "Sandy" Alomar Velázquez Jr. (, ; born June 18, 1966) is a Puerto Rican former professional baseball player, coach, and manager. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher between 1988 and 2007, most notably as a member of the Cleve ...

, Bench Coach DeMarlo Hale, Third Base Coach Mike Sarbaugh, Hitting Analyst Justin Toole, Assistant Pitching Coach Joe Torres, and Hitting Coach Chris Valaika all end up on the COVID list.

References

External links

, o
Retrosheet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Willis, Carl 1960 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada Baseball coaches from Virginia Baseball players from Virginia Birmingham Barons players Boston Red Sox coaches Bristol Tigers players Cincinnati Reds players Chicago White Sox players Cleveland Indians coaches Colorado Springs Sky Sox players Denver Zephyrs players Detroit Tigers players Edmonton Trappers players Evansville Triplets players Lakeland Tigers players Major League Baseball pitching coaches Major League Baseball pitchers Minnesota Twins players Minor league baseball coaches Nashville Sounds players Portland Beavers players Seattle Mariners coaches Sportspeople from Danville, Virginia UNC Wilmington Seahawks baseball players Vancouver Canadians players People from Yanceyville, North Carolina

Playing career

Coaching career

References

Further reading

External links