Ex-New Orleans Zephyrs coach Jim Hickey hired as pitching coach of Washington Nationals

Former New Orleans Zephyrs pitching coach Jim Hickey will be back in the dugout in 2021.

Hickey has been hired as the pitching coach of the Washington Nationals.

Hickey is reunited with manager Dave Martinez, with whom Hickey coached in Tampa Bay when Martinez was the bench coach and Hickey was the pitching coach of the Rays under Joe Maddon from 2008-14.

Hickey was with the Rays as pitching coach for 11 seasons (2007-17) before becoming the pitching coach for Maddon with the Chicago Cubs in 2018.

Previously, Hickey was the pitching coach for the Houston Astros for three seasons (2004-06).

Hickey served for seven years as the pitching coach for the New Orleans Zephyrs, who were then the Triple-A affiliate of the Astros, from 1998-2004. He was promoted from New Orleans to Houston in the middle of the 2004 season.

Hickey joins the Nationals, the defending World Series champions, from the Dodgers, where he served as a special assistant to player development over the last two seasons (2019-20).

Hickey played seven seasons in the minor leagues after playing college baseball at Texas-Pan American.

“To get a chance to put the uniform back on in the big leagues is thrilling,” Hickey said. It was really a lot of fun working in player development for a great organization like the Dodgers, one of the most dynamic, progressive organizations that there is, seeing the way they teach and train guys at the lower levels.”

Hickey feels he is back where he belongs.

“It was really gratifying and a nice little switch but I don’t think a day went by where I wasn’t thinking about a stadium with three decks in it and a major league dugout as compared to being on a back field in Arizona,” Hickey said. “I’m just extremely grateful and I feel like I just won the lottery.”

Hickey knows that he is fortunate to have another great opportunity to do what he loves with someone he is very comfortable with.

“I always say this game is about relationships,” Hickey said. “He obviously thinks I can do the job that needs to be done. I’m a capable pitching coach. If I didn’t have the relationship with him, they could probably find somebody else who filled that qualification as well.

“Davey went to Chicago with Joe Maddon. They ended up doing historic things over there. Davey goes off on his own. I get a chance to go ahead and get back with Davey and it’s all because of those relationships. I’m really excited to be working with him. We’ve been like-minded baseball people for a really long time.”

Hickey was back in New Orleans visiting less than a year ago and realized that the team formerly known as the Zephyrs were no longer here after a 27-year run.

“It’s a shame that the New Orleans area does not have a minor league team,” Hickey said. “Certainly, it’s likely better than most minor league cities. That kind of makes me sad, personally. Hopefully, you can get another team there quickly.”

Despite being part of World Series teams with the Astros and Rays as a coach, Hickey has not forgotten the first World Series he was part of as a coach and the only won he was on the winning side for.

“Some of the best years of my major or minor league career were spent in New Orleans,” Hickey said. “I was there for quite some time. I have made friends there that are lifelong friends (like you) and I still keep in pretty good touch with a lot of them. Winning that Triple-A World Series in 1998 was really memorable stuff.”