Brewers promote Jim Henderson to bullpen coach and Matt Erickson to infield and assistant hitting coach

Last week, the Brewers took a hit to their coaching staff when Steve Karsay stepped down from the coaching staff, wanting to spend more time with his family. That left a hole in their team to fill before the upcoming season. The Brewers decided to fill that spot internally, as well as promote another coach from within their organization. They promoted Jim Henderson to the bullpen coach position, as well as promoted Matt Erickson to the infield and assistant hitting coach position.

Jim Henderson is a former Brewers player and has been working in the Brewers minor league system for the past few seasons, most recently as the Triple-A pitching coach. Henderson pitched in the organization between 2009 and 2015, with the 2012 to 2014 seasons spent in the majors as well. In 3 seasons with the Brewers, he recorded a 3.44 ERA with 31 saves before a shoulder injury in 2014 hampered his career. He pitched 2015 in the Brewers minor leagues and then with the Mets in 2016 before his career came to an end.

Following the end of his playing career, he began coaching in the former Rookie League Helena Brewers as their pitching coach. He then jumped up to the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers pitching coach for the 2019 season. He has been the Triple-A coach for the last two seasons, but did not get to coach in 2020 with the cancellation of that minor-league season.

Matt Erickson is also a former Brewers player who has been coaching in the minor-league system for several seasons. He was hired as the hitting coach for the Timber Rattlers for the 2008 season, originally with the Seattle Mariners but stayed with the team when they joined the Brewers organization. He was eventually promoted to manager for the 2011 season, and has held that position through the 2021 season. His team won the Midwest League championship in 2012, and also earned two other playoff berths in his seasons as manager. He has also been consistently seen as one of the Brewers best minor league coaches. He is expected to mainly spend time as an infield instructor, but also some time as the assistant hitting coach.

With the addition of these coaches, the Brewers major league coaching staff under Craig Counsell is up to 11 coaches. The staff includes bench coach Pat Murphy, hitting coaches Connor Dawson and Ozzie Timmons, assistant hitting coach and infield coach Matt Erickson, pitching coach Chris Hook, first base coach Quintin Berry, third base coach Jason Lane, bullpen coach Jim Henderson, associate coach Walker McKinven, and bullpen catchers Nestor Corredor and Adam Weisenburger.

Statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference.