T-Rat Talk: Josh Spence

In this edition of Kyle Lobner's T-Rat Talk you have a chance to meet Josh Spence, the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers new pitching coach. Recently promoted from his role as bullpen coach in Biloxi, the Australian brings a lot of experience to the Timber Rattlers. Learn about his mentors, his style of coaching, and which Hall of Famer he faced in his MLB debut.

As a longtime professional baseball player whose Baseball Reference page includes stints with 12 different teams in 11 different leagues, Josh Spence has some experience being the new guy in the clubhouse. Nonetheless, the change he experienced this year was a little different.

Spence is in his second year coaching in the Brewers organization and started the year as the bullpen coach for AA Biloxi, but in June the Brewers’ plan for him changed when Wisconsin pitching coach Drew Thomas accepted an offer to return to college as the pitching coach at the University of Central Florida. Spence joined the Timber Rattlers shortly thereafter and has been in the role for about a month.

“You can’t necessarily base everything on results, they don’t tell the whole picture, but the boys have thrown the ball well, and I’m just blessed to be a part of their player development experience here with the Brewers and hopefully I can create some stepping stones to help them get to the next level,” Spence said.

A lot has gone right for the Timber Rattlers over the last couple of months, as they haven’t lost a six-game series since May 16-21. The pitching staff has been a big part of their success, however, continuing to hold steady as the weather gets warmer and the offensive environment becomes more hitter-friendly. The Timber Rattlers allowed just under 4.8 runs per game in their first 19 contests with Spence as pitching coach, almost exactly in line with their season average.

While it remains to be seen where Spence’s coaching career will take him, one familiar face and former colleague is certainly rooting for him. Former Timber Rattlers pitching coach Will Schierholz has the same role with Biloxi this season and was working with Spence before his move to Wisconsin. Despite only knowing Spence since they met at a seminar in December, he described his former bullpen coach as “an unbelievable human being.”

“He’s one of the most genuine and nicest people that I have ever spent any time with, and the players can really see that,” Schierholz said. “On top of that, his experience as a big league reliever, there’s not a lot of guys that can say they’ve pitched in the big leagues and experienced that. He’s able to express those experiences and help those young guys along to help them understand what it takes to actually pitch every day at that level. So he’s just an unbelievable resource for younger guys, and can help them along and teach them what it means to be a professional pitcher.”

Bullpen Coach Josh Spence (@joshspence) joined the pregame show on Sunday to discuss the bullpen's growth, facing teams 25+ times in a season and what's his gameplan to strike out his brother (and current Smokies infielder)!

🎧 https://t.co/fMGmMtGT6H pic.twitter.com/78uqliW56w

— Biloxi Shuckers (@BiloxiShuckers) June 13, 2023

The Padres selected Spence out of Arizona State in the ninth round of the 2010 draft and he rose quickly in his first professional organization, making his major league debut just one season later in 2011. He had plenty of major league moments to choose from, but said one of his favorites was getting to face a childhood hero and future Hall of Famer in his first game.

“It’s hard to put a finger on the favorite moment, obviously it’s a goal you’ve worked potentially your whole life for, and then to be able to have that experience is a pretty special moment. So obviously the debut definitely comes to mind. But going back to my favorite player growing up, Chipper Jones, I had his jersey growing up, and wouldn’t you know it the second hitter I faced in the big leagues is Chipper Jones. I think that’s a pretty special moment, too,” Spence said.

Spence didn’t mention it, but he got the future Hall of Famer to pop out to second base for the second out of a clean inning in his MLB debut. He also got Jones to fly out in their second meeting, two days later. All told, Spence pitched 51 games in the majors across two season with the Padres, finishing with a 3.15 ERA across 40 innings and 9.2 strikeouts per nine innings. At the time of his debut he was just the 18th Australian-born player ever to pitch in the majors.

Spence isn’t one to brag about his MLB experience, but he did say it’s something he’ll bring up from time to time as needed.

“I would like to think I’m an unassuming major league player. I like to keep a low profile. I give them (his pitchers) little friendly reminders every now and then, tongue in cheek, let them know who’s boss,” Spence said. “But at the end of the day players don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. That’s a little cheesy and cliché, but what I focus on is creating relationships and through that transition they learn a little about me and I learn a little about them.”

11 years ago I got my first call from the bullpen at Petco Park

I made some unforgettable memories and learned a lot of lessons on how to deal with both success and failure.

Forever grateful for my opportunity to wear an @MLB uniform.@MLBPA @MLBPAA @Padres pic.twitter.com/BZkAPpuwuy

— Josh Spence (@joshspence) June 25, 2022

Spence is still only 35 years old and not that far removed from his playing days, but he’s on to a new challenge: Learning a new team and fitting in with a new coaching staff midstream in a Midwest League season. Spence worked with Timber Rattlers bench coach David Tufo and had some opportunity to get to know many of the current Rattlers in the Arizona Complex League last season, but acknowledged that stepping into a coaching role with an established team during the season is a step away from the ordinary.

“There’s a good demographic of players that were in last year’s draft when I was based in Arizona, so I was around a lot of these guys and when it comes to the offseason I had a few check-ins with some of these players as well. So they’re not as if they’re all foreign. But it’s definitely an unusual concept,” Spence said.

While Spence is working to build relationships with his new team he’s also experienced some roster turnover. Since Spence took over on June 20 three pitchers have been promoted from Wisconsin to Biloxi, and three others have joined Wisconsin from Carolina.

“I think that’s the beautiful thing about this sport, is that the roster we have today might not be the roster we have tomorrow. You’re just constantly…you think about it as a recipe, right? And everyone’s different ingredients, some ingredients mix well with others, and a lot of times we’re just finding what formula, what recipe works best,” Spence said.

The fact that Spence’s career was relatively recent helps him relate to his current players. He said his background makes it possible for him to relate to the challenges his pitchers face, and identified that as the most necessary skill for a coach.

“Having empathy for what they’re going through. This game is tough and sometimes the further you get removed from that the more you lose sight of that,” Spence said. “So it’s just a friendly reminder that if it was easy we’d all be in the big leagues. It’s a tough game. You’ve got to enjoy the successes, you can’t get too down on the failures. Just having empathy with what they’re going through, I think that’s a huge skill to have.”

It’s a good day when the mate comes and drops some knowledge on the Vaqs @joshspence @accac_sports @JUCOWorldSeries #MLBVaq #DB9er #Spencie pic.twitter.com/OgD0SaB4ih

— Central AZ Baseball (@CAC_BaseballDB9) September 5, 2022

Through decades in organized baseball Spence has had the opportunity to learn under countless coaches and mentors, but identified two that specifically helped frame his coaching philosophy. One of them is a familiar name to Brewers fans.

“I think you take a little bit from everyone. Obviously I was blessed to have Pat Murphy (now the Brewers’ bench coach) as a coach when I was in college at Arizona State, he was a big part of me having the opportunity to come to the Brewers and be in player development here. There was a couple of coaches growing up back in Australia who definitely come to mind: One of my first coaches, Russell Stewart, he had a way about him of making the game fun and learning through analogies, which is something I feel like I’ve taken a lot of growing up. There’s too many to mention, but those two, they definitely come to mind,” Spence said.

If nothing else, Spence might be experiencing the best weather of any pitching coach in organized baseball. While conditions were still cooler in Wisconsin he was enjoying more comfortable temperatures in Biloxi, and once things started to get hot and humid in the Southern League he was able to move north to the Midwest. This fact was not lost on Schierholz.

“Yeah, what’s that about? I had it all last year in Appleton when I was up there. In April when it’s 35 degrees, he didn’t have to experience any of that. He missed all the hard months in Appleton and got the good months at the end of the summer. So he got the good months in Biloxi and the good months in Appleton. It’s not too fair, but Appleton’s a great place and so I’m sure he’s enjoying it up there,” Schierholz said.