Cubs hire Moskos as assistant pitching coach

CHICAGO -- The Cubs are one step closer to finalizing their coaching staff for next season under manager David Ross. The latest addition helped close a gap within the pitching infrastructure.

On Monday, Chicago announced the hiring of Daniel Moskos as the team's new assistant pitching coach. The position is a new title on the staff, which features Tommy Hottovy entering his fourth year as the team's lead pitching coach.

Moskos' arrival comes after longtime Cubs coach Mike Borzello -- most recently an associate pitching, catching and strategy coach for the North Siders -- opted to leave the organization after last season. Moskos will assume some of Borzello's duties.

As the Cubs have looked to rebuild their coaching staff, including on the hitting side, president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer has cited collaboration between the Major League and Minor League groups as a crucial component.

"In order to do really good [at the] player development level, you have to be willing to have a lot of conversations with the Minor League coaches," Hoyer said last week at the GM Meetings in Carlsbad, Calif. "I think we look at this as kind of a hitting department and a pitching department more than just like a one-man show."

On the hitting front, the Cubs recently hired Greg Brown from the Rays' system as their new hitting coach, replacing Anthony Iapoce. After losing assistant hitting coach Chris Valaika to Cleveland, where he earned the lead job, Chicago is reportedly planning to hire Johnny Washington for the assistant role under Brown, per The Athletic.

Washington was a member of Cubs bench coach Andy Green's staff during his days as manager of the Padres. This past season, Washington worked as a hitting coach for the Hanwa Eagles in Korea. The Cubs have not confirmed the expected hire.

"You want to make sure we're acting as a team," Hoyer said of the coaching staff. "Sometimes, in the past, with all teams, I think that there's a sense of Major Leagues and Minor Leagues. We have to eliminate that completely; in order to allow guys to come up and continue to get better, the verbiage and the teaching and the training is the same."

The Major League pitching group includes Hottovy and bullpen coach Chris Young, with assistant general manager Craig Breslow doubling as Chicago's director of pitching, overseeing the Cubs' system.

Moskos, 35, joins the team following two years spent coaching in the Yankees' system. Last year, he was the pitching coach for Double-A Somerset, which led all Double-A clubs in ERA (3.38), WHIP (1.16) and opponents' average (.212).

Prior to working for New York, Moskos started his coaching path with Driveline Baseball outside Seattle. That came after a 12-year pro career in which Moskos (the fourth overall pick in the 2007 MLB Draft by the Pirates) logged a 2.96 ERA in his lone taste of The Show in 2011.

"Excited beyond words to join such an incredible organization and to be part of an amazing MLB staff," Moskos wrote in a tweet. "Can't wait to get to work in the pursuit of another World Series!"