Carl Willis in Seattle
IN PHOTO: Seattle Mariners pitching coach Carl Willis (C) talks to pitcher Stephen Pryor (R,) as third baseman Kyle Seager (L), catcher Jesus Montero (2nd L) and shortstop Luis Jimenez (2nd R) are near, in the eighth inning of their MLB American League baseball game in Arlington, Texas September 14, 2012. REUTERS/Mike Stone

The Boston Red Sox have fired pitching coach Juan Nieves after the team’s sub-par pitching performance in recent seasons and has named Carl Willis as his replacement. The Boston Globe was one of the first to report the development after Nieves was fired last Thursday.

"While we are confident we have many of the pieces in place to improve and will see improvement, John and I simply got to the point where we felt that, in order to continue to push forward and make improvements, we needed to make a change and have a different voice in that particular position," Boston general manager Ben Cherington said in the article at the time of firing.

The 54 year old Willis is veteran in both the major and minor leagues as a pitching coach. The former MLB pitcher, who has played for four MLB teams, Detroit Tigers in 1984, Cincinnati Reds from 1984 to 1986, Chicago White Sox in 1988 and Minnesota Twins from 1991 to 1995, had been a pitching coach since 2003. His coaching career started with the Cleveland Indians from 2003 to 2009 and Seattle Mariners from 2010 to 2013.

Recently, he was with the minors team Columbus Clippers the affiliate team of the Indians as the pitching coach. Willis is credited for the good performances of some MLB star pitchers in recent years. CC Sabathia won the Cy Young award in 2007, Cliff Lee in 2008 and Felix Hernandez in 2010 and all were coached by Willis.

“Someone I’ve had working experience with from the past for a number of years while in Cleveland. Someone who’s got all the attributes we’re looking for in the position. Someone who’s had a lot of success at the major league level,” Boston manager John Farrell said about Willis in the Boston Globe article.

The Red Sox, mainly because of bad pitching, are off to a bad start in the 2015 MLB Season with 14 wins against 17 losses so far, second worst in the East Division of the American League.

Email j.gloria@IBTimes.com.au to contact author.

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