New York Mets closing in on hiring new pitching coach

Joel Sherman of the New York Post also reported that Willard is "poised" to become the new pitching coach, as New York continues their major shakeup of the coaching staff after a disappointing 2025 season.

Jermey Hefner spent the last six seasons as the Mets' pitching coach from 2020 to 2025, and was considered one of the best in baseball. However, after having one of the best ERAs in all of baseball to begin the year, New York's rotation and bullpen crumbled during the final three-and-a-half months of the season, which was a significant factor in the Amazins' failing to miss the playoffs.

With Hefner's inability to fix the Mets' ailing bullpen and rotation during that three-and-a-half-month downfall, he was one of many coaches that was not retained for the 2026 season.

As for Willard, during his time with the Red Sox, the 35-year-old spent a lot of time working with pitching coach Andrew Bailey. According to Sammon, both Willard and Bailey spent time together breaking down video and data (biomechanical, pitch movement, etc.) to boost pitchers’ results.

The Red Sox had a team ERA of 4.03 this season (16th in MLB), but their bullpen posted a 3.41 ERA, which was the second best in MLB; their 45 saves were tied for the sixth most, with Aroldis Chapman recording 32 of them. Boston's pitching staff this year also saw Garrett Crochet produce a Cy Young-caliber performance during his first season with the team. In 32 starts, Crochet posted an 18-5 record with a 2.59 ERA, 255 strikeouts and a WHIP of 1.03 across 205.1 innings pitched.

If the Mets do opt to hire Willard as their pitching coach, he will have the opportunity to work with a plethora of talent in their rotation. Nolan McLean is poised to be the team's ace in 2026 after breaking out last year. Brandon Sproat and Jonah Tong were also impressive after they were called up from the minor leagues last summer.

The Mets, however, have some questions to face with their rotation this offseason after seeing their veteran starters struggle. Both Sean Manaea and Kodai Senga endured injury-riddled seasons and failed to perform well when healthy. Lefty David Peterson also hit a wall during the second half of the year, after pitching at an ace-caliber level throughout the first half.