KEEPING A CLOSE EYE ON HIS ARMS
Hook dealing with big turnover on pitching staff
PHOENIX – As DL Hall follows through on his delivery, kicking his left foot in the air at the same time the ball sails just wide of home plate, he hears one word coming from over his shoulder. “Eyes.”
The voice belongs to pitching coach Chris Hook. It's sharp and with force behind it, yet still inviting, confidence-instilling in a way.
Hall and the rest of the pitching staff for the Milwaukee will tell you that's who Hook, who's entering his sixth year as the team's pitching coach, is as a person and coach, too. Hook isn't shy about delivering a swift kick when he needs to. But he's also, at his core, a relater, a man who opens conversations by asking things like, “How are you as a person?”
“Hooky, he's authentic as hell,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy says. “And he really, really cares. You want to talk about love and discipline? He loves these guys. They see it and they feel it.”
Hook's primary strength, both in life and as a coach, might be his ability to build relationships. It's how he can connect with a cascade of pitchers on a staff, all of which come from different backgrounds.
And it might be one of the most important factors for the Brewers in 2024.
Gone is Corbin Burnes. Gone is Adrian Houser.
Brandon Woodruff won't take the ball, either, as he rehabs his shoulder injury. Devin Williams will now miss the next three months with stress fractures in his back. The Brewers, who for the past five years have relied heavily on a core of young, homegrown starters to fuel a string of winning baseball, have a largely different cast of characters standing 60 feet 6 inches away from home plate.
This is the challenge that stands in front of Hook. It, from a bird’s eye view, is quite daunting.
There’s no denying Hook, as well as the rest of the Brewers staff in charge of pitching which includes Jim Henderson, Walker McKinven and Charlie Greene, has a challenge in front of them. But this also isn’t Hook’s first rodeo. Working with Burnes as he turned from the league’s worst starter to Cy Young was a challenge. Prepping Aaron Ashby to be thrown into the fire of the postseason as a rookie was a challenge. Enduring last year’s injuries to the starting staff was a challenge. So, this year’s challenge is different, but not new.
And what’s different isn’t just the names and faces, but also the fact that Hook, who’s been the Brewers pitching coach at the MLB level since 2019, knew those departed (or in Woodruff and Williams’ cases, injured) pitchers dating back to their time in the minor leagues.
“You know those guys, I have a history based on past experiences on how they’re going to handle different situations,” Hook said. “That will be the challenge. Because of the lack of history I don’t know the reaction when those things happen, where I know the reaction for most.”
2024 brings new pitchers, new challenges
The real challenge for Hook this year isn’t necessarily finding ways to maximize an arsenal or enhance pitch shape.
Rather, it’s learning an array of new personalities, from Hall, to Jakob Junis, to Joe Ross, to Robert Gasser, to Taylor Clarke and beyond.
The regular season – “when the bullets start flying,” as Hook says – is when the true challenge begins for Hook and the Brewers pitching staff. That’s when things can actually start going wrong, and if the coaching staff lacks a proper understanding of how each player ticks, the problem-solving process becomes blind dart-throwing.
This is why Hook felt it was important to go down to the Brewers’ complex in Arizona to spend time with new pitchers, like lefty Bryan Hudson, as early as January.
“If I know them well enough, based on what I’m hearing or if I might see small clues, when things go wrong I may be able to circumvent that a little bit,” Hook said. “I don’t know how it’s going to go – good or bad – but I have to think about how they may respond.
“I have to figure out the person, learn their history, all of these things going into the season. Once the games start and things go good or bad, I have to be prepared.”
Connecting is imperative
Ashby has worked with Hook since 2021 and explained just how his coach learns what type of communication clicks with each player.
“He’ll say like 12 different things. They’re all kind of the same thing,” Ashby said. “But one of them is really going to resonate with you. For the young guys it’s just picking through which one of the things he’s going to say is like, ‘Oh that was it.’”
The best example of this was how Hook learned the language of former Milwaukee lefty Eric Lauer, whose lexicon of pitches including a “zoom ball.” After Lauer, whose approach and understanding of how his body moved and his pitches were uncommon to say the least, struggled in 2020 in his first year with the Brewers, Hook helped him unlock his potential by something as simple as getting on the same page.
In Hall, the Brewers have another young lefty and former first-round pick whose potential they are seeking to unlock. Getting on the same page as Hall has been one of Hook’s greatest objectives in Phoenix.
Hook has discerned a couple of traits of Hall’s that could help him reach his lofty ceiling: He’s a self-learner and needs only simple directives. Watch one of Hall’s bullpen sessions and you’ll hear how Hook melds these into action by giving Hall brief cues – such as “eyes!” – to remind him what he needs to do.
“He’s a great reinforcer of confidence,” Hall said. “I think that’s his biggest thing. He makes sure I stay confident. Instead of him trying to explain to me what to do or how to do it, he just says, ‘Do it’ and knows I’ll take it upon myself to figure out how to do it.”
Hook has been so busy learning the cerebral intricacies of the new pitchers this spring that his most longtime pupil, Woodruff, has barely been able to say hello. As the veteran righty sees it, that’s probably a good thing for the Brewers’ fortunes.
“He has a way of just having this people personality,” Woodruff said. “He’s easy to talk to. That’s step one. Then it just comes down to he’s prepared and he knows the message he’s trying to get to you. If it’s something you maybe don’t want to hear, he can go a different direction.”
When Hook needs to deliver a harsh message – which, “Oh heck yeah, he’ll do,” Woodruff asserted – pitchers have typically responded well not only because they trust Hook’s expertise as a coach but because they respect him as a person.
“He’s one of the guys who’s been the exact same guy every single day when he shows up for the past four years,” Ashby said. “I think it’s really unique. What he does is pretty incredible. He’s been the same guy, acted the same and presented himself that way to all of us pitchers. It’s nice to have a guy who is the same every single day.”