Corey Ray set to join Nationals staff after strong run with Cubs |
Dustin Riese
· · 6 hours ago
It's not too often, if ever, that Minor League coaches are discussed, but this is one of those rare cases that need to be talked about. In case you missed it, the Cubs are not only losing one of their Minor League coaches, but perhaps one of their more undervalued Minor League coaches, as Corey Ray is leaving the Cubs organization to become the Washington Nationals' first base coach.
The 31-year-old Ray was brought to the Cubs via David Ross two years ago and has since taken on a variety of roles in the Minor Leagues. A once highly regarded prospect in the Brewers system, drafted by Craig Counsell himself in the fifth round of the 2016 draft, Ray was signed to a whopping $ 4.1 million bonus as the Brewers had high hopes for him within their organization. You can see why the Brewers fell in love with him: Ray not only had all the tools needed to succeed but also the power-and-speed combo that managers loathe. His biggest issue was his offspeed offerings, as Ray struggled to recognize breaking pitches, which ultimately was his undoing. That alone led to tons of swings and misses, especially the higher up he moved through the system. Even if swing and miss has steadily increased over the past few years, Ray was approaching a 40% swing-and-miss rate in AAA, and that alone is an unsustainable number if anyone wants to have long-term success.
Despite lowering that number significantly over the next few seasons, Ray still struck out nearly 33% percent of the time before hanging up the cleats for good following the 2022 season. One year after his playing days were over, the Cubs called him to work in the Minor Leagues, and like most young coaches, he accepted their offer.
It was in that season when Ray landed on the Myrtle Beach Pelicans staff, serving as the bench coach for the late Buddy Bailey. Anytime you can learn the ropes from a Hall of Famer like Bailey, you are going to gain plenty of knowledge, and he used that knowledge in 2024 when he took over as the ACL Manager the following season.
Keep in mind that this was the same season Counsell came over from the Brewers, and instead of bringing in one of his own guys to lead the Arizona Complex League, he chose to keep Ray as the leader, which shows what everyone in the organization felt about him. The bigger piece to this puzzle is the other position Counsell appointed him as he was also the baserunner coordinator for the entire Minor League system while also working with the Major League club in the Spring.
Baserunning has been one of the Cubs' biggest strengths, especially last year, as a lot of their early-season success came from being aggressive on the bases. While not directly part of the overall major league success in baserunning, Ray played a massive role in the organization's success on the bases, so losing him will hurt in more ways than one.
His loss is not only going to be tough to replace from a baserunning standpoint, but he was also the manager of one of the ACL Rookie League team, which can't be ignored. Often overlooked in the Minors, the Rookie Leagues are arguably the most important step in a player's development, as they are the first time many players see professional baseball.
That means the Cubs will now have to appoint a new manager for their ACL team entering the season, and perhaps add another coach to take over the baserunning duties Ray handled over the past few seasons. Regardless, this is what every Minor League coach dreams about as Ray is heading back to the show, even if it's a different way than he initially expected.
