San Diego Padres Fire Pitching Coach in Wake of Plummet From Playoff Spot

 

When a team suffers a monumental collapse, they'll usually find someone to be the scapegoat. For the San Diego Padres, who have fallen out of a playoff spot after a disastrous month since the All-Star break, that scapegoat is pitching coach Larry Rothschild. 

BREAKING: #Padres fire pitching coach Larry Rothschild in the middle of tailspin. Team has lost 9 of last 11 pic.twitter.com/otISxjNd18

— Troy Hirsch (@troyhirschfox5) August 23, 2021

The Padres' starting pitching has gone into the tank in the 2nd half of the season, due to both injuries and performance, and Rothschild is being held responsible. He'll be replaced by bullpen coach Ben Fritz. 

According to ESPN's Alden Gonzalez, manager Jayce Tingler said it was "100 percent" his decision, and that he wanted to "change the voice" down the stretch.

Tinger added, "we've been in a situation where we've certainly had some injuries, there's no doubt about that, but we've had just some inconsistency on the mound, and I just think at the end of the day we haven't reached our level of consistency on the mound. With 36 games to go, we wanted to try to give a different message, a different voice."

The Padres' rotation has a 5.63 ERA this month, and their starting rotation ranks 10th in the National League in ERA, and dead-last in innings-per-start. The 40-year-old Fritz takes over with a wealth of knowledge about pitching mechanics and analytical data, and he'll need to apply all of that know-how to turn around this staff. 

San Diego has lost 9 of 11 games, falling a game behind the Cincinnati Reds for the 2nd Wild Card spot. 

Photo Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports