Brewers make move to retain crucial assistant coach on multi-year contract

Change in the manager's chair generally leads to change with the assistant coaching staff. We've seen that already with the Milwaukee Brewers this offseason with changes among the hitting coaches. However, a similar change will not be made on the pitching side.

The Brewers announced on Tuesday that pitching coach Chris Hook will be returning for the 2025 season and has signed a new, multi-year contract with the club.

Hook, who has been credited with spearheading the Brewers pitching success in recent years, has been with the Brewers for 17 seasons now. He worked his way up through the minor leagues before being promoted to the big league job in 2019 following the departure of Derek Johnson.

“We are very pleased to welcome Chris Hook back to the coaching staff,” said Brewers GM Matt Arnold. “Chris has been an invaluable asset to the Brewers as demonstrated by the success we have had on the mound over his six seasons as pitching coach. He consistently gets the most out of his pitchers year in and year out and we are happy to see that continue.”

Chris Hook returning to the Brewers is a major win

This was a massive piece of the coaching staff for manager Pat Murphy to retain heading into his second year at the helm.

Murphy added, “Chris Hook has had a tremendous impact on our entire organization over the last 17 years. He has a knack for helping pitchers who may have hit a bump in the road to lengthen and solidify their Major League careers. I’m excited to have him part of our staff going forward.”

When the Brewers promoted Murphy to the manager's job last year, one of the main reasons they cited was the continuity they'd have in leadership. The rest of the assistant coaches all came back as they were under contract. Now with a season under their belt, Murphy had the ability to assess what he wants in his assistant coaches and if he wanted to make any changes or if any of the assistant coaches wanted to look elsewhere. Murphy wanted Hook to stay, Hook wanted the same, and a deal got done.

The Brewers did not specify the length of Hook's contract, saying only that it was a multi-year deal.

Coaching contracts expire on October 31st. The Brewers have yet to announce that the rest of the coaching staff is returning, which means there's still work to do to sign the coaches to new contracts. But retaining Chris Hook is a massive victory for Murphy and the Brewers, keeping a longtime, successful coach that other teams were going to be looking to pounce on.