The words "famous" and "pitching coach" are seldom connected, but there are some who acquire a reputation of note.

A surprising number of name brand pitching coaches were on the market this month — Mike Maddux, Jim Hickey, Chris Bosio, Carl Willis, among others.

The Twins were said to be interested in at least a couple of that group. But last week they hired an unknown in Garvin Alston. And I'm OK with that.

As a pitcher, minor league coach and instructor and major league bullpen coach, Alston has worked in at least seven different organizations, including repeated stints in the Oakland organization. He hasn't been a major league pitching coach before, but he's done just about everything else in the field of developing pitchers.

A lot of different roles in different organizations can be viewed as a negative (he can't keep a job) or a positive (he's been exposed to a lot of ideas and concepts in his wanderings). I'll go with the latter.

Alston's hiring is just one part of what will be a significant restructuring of the Twins pitching development program. Pitching coach Neil Allen wasn't the only dismissal. They also dropped minor league pitching coordinator Eric Rasmussen, who had been in the organization since 1991, while suggesting that they would split that job into two: One for the advanced minors and the other for the lower leagues plus rehab coordination.

That last is an intriguing part of Alston's background. I don't believe the Twins have had anybody specifically charged with devising and monitoring the rehab of injured pitchers in the past. Alston's had that role with a couple of organizations.

The Twins — like everybody else — have no shortage of pitchers coming off significant surgeries and injuries. I can list off the top of my head almost a full staff of disabled arms, from major league veterans to promising prospects, from last season: Phil Hughes, Hector Santiago, Trevor May, Ryan O'Rourke, Nick Burdi, Tyler Jay, J.T. Chargois, Glen Perkins ...

That's a lot of talent and investment on the sidelines.

There's probably not a lot of variance in the core message of different pitching coaches. One way or another, they all sing the same chorus, what I think of as the Ray Miller Mantra:Work quick, throw strikes, change speeds. (Miller, as Twins fans of a certain age know, built a reputation as a pitching guru with Earl Weaver's Baltimore Orioles in the '70s and early '80s before failing as the Twins manager in the mid '80s. After he was fired — and replaced by Tom Kelly — he went back to being a successful pitching coach.)

The lyrics are the same. The tune varies. Now Alston gets to try his rendition.

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