White Sox bolster pitching infrastructure by adding Dave Duncan as pitching consultant

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The White Sox added one of baseball’s top pitching minds to the organization Thursday.

The team announced that Dave Duncan, most recently known for his work alongside Tony La Russa with the St. Louis Cardinals, is the organization’s new pitching consultant.

According to the announcement, Duncan’s chief responsibilities include reviewing and evaluating video of pitchers and pitching prospects.

"Given his impressive experience and accomplishments in the game over decades in the dugout," general manager Rick Hahn said in the announcement, "Dave provides us with another set of valuable eyes to give insight into our major league pitching staff, our minor league prospects, other major league staffs and even some of the amateur arms we might be considering for next year's draft."

The move seems like an important one considering the White Sox organization’s wealth of highly touted pitching prospects. Michael Kopech, Alec Hansen, Dylan Cease and Dane Dunning all landed on MLB Pipeline’s list of the top 100 prospects in baseball. Youngsters Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez reached the big league squad last year. And Carlos Rodon, who’s experienced a pair of shoulder injuries in the last calendar year, is also seen as a key piece of the rotation of the future.

Duncan’s most prolific days were spent helping the Cardinals to a string of playoff appearances — and a pair of World Series wins — at the outset of the 21st century. His students in St. Louis included Chris Carpenter, Adam Wainwright, Matt Morris, Darryl Kile, Woody Williams and Kyle Lohse.

Duncan spent time at La Russa's other managerial stops, as well, including with the White Sox from 1983 to 1985. He teamed with La Russa with the Oakland Athletics from 1986 to 1995 and with the Cardinals from 1996 to 2011. He worked as a pitching consultant with the Arizona Diamondbacks beginning in 2013.

Four pitchers won Cy Young Awards with Duncan as their pitching coach: LaMarr Hoyt with the White Sox in 1983, Bob Welch in 1990, Dennis Eckersley in 1992 and Carpenter in 2005. He was the pitching coach for three World Series winners: the 1989 A's and the 2006 and 2011 Cardinals.

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