The Cincinnati Reds have hired Joe Torres as the club’s pitching coach.
The 44-year-old enters his sixth season on a Major League coaching staff and 11th overall as a professional pitching coach.
He joins the Reds after serving as the Cleveland Guardians’ assistant pitching coach for the last five years, where he worked under current Reds manager Terry Francona in both 2022 and ’23.
Torres helped Cleveland finish in the top 10 among their Major League counterparts in ERA in each of his five seasons on the staff, during which the club captured four American League Central Division championships.
He previously spent his entire 10-year professional coaching career in the Cleveland system, including stints as the organization’s Minor League pitching coordinator (2020-21) and a pitching coach at their High-A Lynchburg (2019), Single-A Lake County (2018), and Rookie-Arizona Complex League (2017) affiliates.
He also coached at King’s Ridge Christian Academy in Alpharetta, Georgia during the 2015-16 season.
Prior to joining the coaching ranks, Torres pitched in parts of 13 professional seasons after being selected by the Los Angeles Angels with the 10th-overall pick in the 2000 MLB Draft.
His professional pitching career included time in five different organizations, appearing in a total of 345 minor-league games (72 starts) in the Angels (2000-06), Chicago White Sox (2007-08, ’10), Los Angeles Dodgers (2009), Texas Rangers (2009), and Colorado Rockies (2011-13) systems.
Torres, who pitched collegiately at Arizona State University, won a pair of gold medals while representing Team USA at the Baseball World Cup in 1998 and ’99.
He and his wife Kristen live in Roswell, Georgia.