Carl Willis

This article is about the baseball player. For the Australian footballer and cricketer, see Carl Willis (Australian).

Carl Blake Willis (born December 28, 1960) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher and the current pitching coach for the Boston Red Sox. He was previously the pitching coach for the Cleveland Indians and the Seattle Mariners.

Willis played for nine seasons in the majors as a relief pitcher for the Detroit Tigers, Cincinnati Reds, Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Twins.

Playing career

Willis was a member of two World Series champions: the Tigers in the 1984 World Series and the Twins in the 1991 World Series. However, he did not get a World Series ring in the 1984 Series because he was traded around the middle of the season. 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.

Coaching career

From 2003 to 2009 he served as the pitching coach for the Cleveland Indians.

On November 30, 2009, Willis was named the Seattle Mariners minor-league pitching coordinator. On August 9, 2010, Willis was promoted to the Seattle Mariners Coaching Staff as the new Pitching Coach replacing Rick Adair who was fired along with Manager Don Wakamatsu & Bench Coach Ty Van Burkleo. Carl served in this capacity until 2013.

Carl has had three pitchers win Cy Young awards during his time as being a pitching coach. CC Sabathia in 2007, Cliff Lee in 2008, and Felix Hernandez in 2010.

In 2015, Willis was named to be the pitching coach for the Columbus Clippers in the Cleveland Indians organization.

On May 9, 2015, Willis was named as the pitching coach for the Boston Red Sox replacing Juan Nieves.

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball Reference (Minors)

Preceded by Mike Brown	Cleveland Indians pitching coach 2003–2009	Succeeded by Tim Belcher
Preceded by Rick Adair	Seattle Mariners pitching coach 2010–2013	Succeeded by Rick Waits
Preceded by Juan Nieves	Boston Red Sox pitching coach 2015– Appointed 10 May 2015	Succeeded by Incumbent