After only three months on the job Mark Connor resigned suddenly as the Orioles’ pitching coach in mid-June, citing personal reasons, but now Brittany Ghiroli of MLB.com reports that he’s taken a job with the Rangers as a “player development special consultant.”
That’s the same position Connor held with the Rangers for two seasons prior to joining Buck Showalter’s coaching staff in Baltimore and the 62-year-old also previously served as Texas’ bullpen coach and pitching coach.
In two-plus months under Connor the Orioles’ pitching staff had a 4.22 ERA, but since his resignation their team ERA is 5.73. However, at least one Orioles pitcher, Brian Matusz, spoke publicly about struggling to adapt to changes Connor asked him to make with his mechanics, saying he “wasn’t mentally prepared ... to change things I’ve done for my whole life.”
