Tucsonan Strom deserves some credit for Astros' new culture
The long-woeful Houston Astros’ emergence as a baseball playoff contender can be traced in part to the hiring of Tucsonan Brent Strom as the club’s pitching coach a year ago. The Astros, who haven’t had a winning season since 2008, were 71-58 through Friday, and Strom gets a lot of credit for changing the Astros culture. Strom has been a pioneer in injury prevention, and safer mechanics. Now he’s something of a guru in what he calls “kinesthetic feel” of pitching deliveries. Strom was the Tucson Toros pitching coach from 1991-93, which led to a pair of PCL championships. His six-year stint as St. Louis’ minor-league pitching coordinator (2008-13) was exemplary, which led him to the Houston job at age 66.
