The Toronto Blue Jays are making more changes to their coaching staff.
According to Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi, field coordinator Gil Kim and assistant pitching coaches Jeff Ware and David Howell have been removed from the Major League staff. The Blue Jays are “working on potential re-assignments” elsewhere in the organization for all of them. There’s also no word yet on who (or if anyone) will be added to the team’s coaching staff in their places.
This news comes shortly after word came out that the Blue Jays had parted ways with hitting coach Guillermo Martinez following a season that saw the team finish 23rd in runs scored. The Blue Jays were also below average on the pitching side with a team ERA of 4.29 in 2024, thanks largely to a bullpen that was among the worst in baseball. Ware’s role last season was coaching the bullpen and Howell’s was pitching strategy.
Still remaining from last year’s robust coaching staff are manager John Schneider, bench coach and offensive coordinator Don Mattingly, associate manager DeMarlo Hale, pitching coach Pete Walker, first base coach Mark Budzinski, third base coach Carlos Febels, assistant hitting coaches Hunter Mense and Matt Hague, bullpen catchers Alex Andreopoulos and Luis Hurtado, and mental performance coach John Lannan.
Kim joined the Blue Jays as player development director after Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins took over ahead of the 2016 season. He worked closely with now-manager John Schneider and the two were both promoted to Charlie Montoyo’s bench staff ahead of the 2020 season. Kim remained development director while on Toronto’s bench for two seasons before pivoting to field coordinator in 2022.
Ware was selected by the Blue Jays in the first round of the MLB Draft in 1991 and made 18 appearances with the club between 1995 and 1996. He began coaching with the Blue Jays organization in 2014 and was promoted to oversee the team’s bullpen in 2023. Howell joined the Blue Jays at their alternate training site during the 2020 season and was hired as a big-league pitching strategist heading into the 2022 season.