TOP-DOWN APPROACH Fans were predicting big on-the-field changes last offseason. They got them, but it wasn’t where they expected. BY JARED WYLLYS STEPHEN GREEN 30 | 2020 CUBS YEARBOOK | #WhereStoriesPlay #WhereStoriesPlay | 2020 CUBS YEARBOOK | 31 ubs fans entered the the-scenes personnel are differ- 2019-20 offseason ex- ent from last year. Fast Riser pecting major changes. At the major-league level, Ross The team was coming is supported by five new people, Though she grew up in Los Angeles County as a diehard Coff a lackluster 2019 campaign, from the coaches in the dugout Dodgers fan, Rachel Folden’s ties to the Cubs run deep. in which they won 84 games with him to a new senior director The 32-year-old first female coach in Cubs history shares and missed the playoffs for the of data and development. This first time since 2014. Then, team much change is at least partially a common memory with a lot of people who grew up in president Theo Epstein stoked the product of a disappointing the team’s television heyday. the fires at the November gener- 2019 season and of a free-agent “They were always on TV,” Folden said. “WGN made it al managers meetings in Arizona budget that has shrunk from kind of cool to be a Cubs fan.” when he said there were “no un- past years. With the new hires, Now, that rooting interest has come full circle. Last touchables” on the roster. the plan is to get the Cubs back November, the Cubs hired Folden to serve two roles: “When things evolved to a into the postseason with largely place we’re not as proud of, the same roster as the team fea- as the lead hitting lab tech and as the fourth coach on there’s accountability for all of tured a season ago. the Arizona Rookie League staff. Both jobs are based in us,” he said at the time. “That The new faces on Ross’ coach- Mesa, Arizona, which gives Folden the ability to assess means a lot of change and dif- ing staff are Andy Green as bench hitters as they come to the hitting lab at the Cubs’ spring ficult decisions and trying to coach, Craig Driver as first base training facility and to be at the field as the Arizona move forward and create some- and catching coach, Chris Young thing new. Change is not always as bullpen coach and Mike Napo- League affiliate plays its season starting in June. easy, but it’s necessary.” li as quality assurance coach. The “I work with a certain group of players throughout the While the 2020 team came into Cubs have also made Kyle Evans whole year, which I’m really excited about because that’s the season looking very simi- their new senior director of data what I’ve been doing my whole career,” Folden said. lar to the 2019 group, plenty of and development. Folden joining the Cubs organization is linked to her change did take place last offsea- working with Justin Stone at Elite Baseball. The Cubs son. It just wasn’t where people In the Clubhouse were expecting. The most notice- Green comes to the Cubs after hired Stone, a biokinetics-based hitting instructor, in able alteration was at the top: most recently serving almost four 2018, and he became director of hitting last October. After five years and one World seasons as the Padres’ manager, “We were actually driving up to University of Series title with Joe Maddon at from 2016-19. Before that, the Michigan together, and he had just gotten the job as the the helm, the Cubs announced Lexington, Kentucky, native was a director of hitting,” Folden said. “He said, ‘I want to work former catcher David Ross as third base coach for the Diamond- their new skipper in November. backs in 2015, and he played for with you. I’m going to recommend you for an interview.’” But he’s far from the only new the Diamondbacks and Mets from But it was Folden’s hitting prowess, established in a face at the organizational level. 2006-09. The seasoned Green could very successful college and professional career, that won While there wasn’t much roster prove an invaluable resource for her the job. By the time the Cubs called, she had been turnover, many of the behind- Ross, who — despite his years in running her own business, Folden Fastpitch, for several the clubhouse, behind the mic and years, but working in professional baseball was always in the front office — had never managed a big-league game head- the goal. The trailblazer represents another step forward ing into the season. for the Cubs in the increasingly data- and tech-driven “[Green is] probably the big- baseball world. gest help for me in directing my thoughts, getting things organized, getting prepared,” said Ross at the [than being] a Chicago Cub. It was the late ’80s, and Cubs Convention. “This guy has my mom would take me up here and watch Ryne been through the season, the Na- Sandberg play second base. That’s what I wanted to do. tional League, knows the details of There was always this pull to this uniform for me that what it takes to lead. He’s a phe- was very, very strong.” nomenal human being. “Being inexperienced, I was look- ing for somebody with a lot of expe- You look at a lot of peoples’ rience. Andy Green checked a lot of track records, and you see what boxes in the areas that I lack.” Coming off four years with a re- they’ve done in this game, see building squad in San Diego, Green relishes the chance to be part of a what we’re still capable of, I winner in Chicago. But his ties to the would take this team any day." organization run deeper than that. —KYLE SCHWARBER “I used to drive up to Wrigley from Lexington, Kentucky when I Driver and Young both come from the Phillies orga- was a kid,” Green said. “I thought nization, where Driver was the bullpen catcher for two there would be nothing cooler years. Before that, the Washington state native was STEPHEN GREEN 32 | 2020 CUBS YEARBOOK | #WhereStoriesPlay STEPHEN GREEN a coach at Yale University. Young had was Chris Young, our new bullpen coach,” Ross I’ve ever been around.” spent the 2018 season as the Phils’ said. “He blew me away on the phone, just in his Evans moved to the coaching assistant pitching coach and last humility and the areas where he felt like he could im- staff after almost a decade in the year as the head pitching coach. He prove. He had been with a new, first-time manager. … Cubs organization, where he was was a scout for the Astros and Pa- He had seen some of the ups and downs, and we talked most recently the senior director of dres before going to Philadelphia. through that. [It was] very valuable.” player personnel. Baseball has be- As a player, he pitched in the mi- Napoli is in his first year as a major-league coach af- come increasingly data-driven over nor leagues for the Rockies, Pirates ter a lengthy professional career. He played 12 seasons the past decade, and Evans’ new and Marlins from 2002-07. as a catcher and first baseman, mostly with the Angels position allows him to be in uni- “Probably the best interview I and Rangers. He and Ross were teammates when the form at times and interact with the players more directly. He will also be a key part of the decision-mak- Being inexperienced, I was ing team in all transactions, both looking for somebody with a in free agency and trades. Before coming to the Cubs, Evans pitched lot of experience. Andy Green in the Indians minor-league sys- tem from 2000-05. checked a lot of boxes in the Changes like this are a shift areas that I lack." from the Cubs’ approach of past — DAVID ROSS offseasons when they made big splashes in free agency. Red Sox won the World Series in 2013. He also played in “Every club, every winner has the 2011 World Series with the Rangers and again in 2016 a certain landscape, certain pa- against the Cubs when he was with Cleveland. rameters that they have to oper- “We can’t talk about 2016 too much around him. ate under,” Epstein said in Janu- He gets his feelings hurt,” Ross joked at the Cubs Con- ary. “There are going to be times vention. “I like catching. I like pitching. It’s where my where we can be really aggressive heart and my head go. He’s a guy who’s been to three and we have a ton of flexibility World Series. He’s caught. He’s played first base. When and every player is a possibility for some adversity hit, he’s come through. He’s protected us. We knew this wasn’t going to David Ortiz in the lineup. One of the best base runners be one of those offseasons.” STEPHEN GREEN 38 | 2020 CUBS YEARBOOK | #WhereStoriesPlay I used to drive up to Wrigley from Lexington, Kentucky when I was a kid. ... It was the late ’80s, and my mom would take me up here and watch Ryne Sandberg play second base. That’s what I wanted to do. There was always this pull to this uniform for me that was very, very strong." — ANDY GREEN Regardless of the lack of change jority of the current starters were on the team that Jacobson pitched for St.