Cincinnati Reds finalize Terry Francona’s coaching staff for the 2025 season

A lot of old faces stick around!

The Cincinnati Reds have finalized their coaching staff for Opening Day 2025, officially surrounding new manager Terry Francona with a mix of faces old and new.

Collin Cowgill will return as the First Base Coach opposite JR House as Third Base Coach, an indication that Francona (and the front office) were pretty well pleased with how the Reds have been running the bases aggressively over the last few seasons. On top of that, Derek Johnson and Alon Leichman return on the pitching side of things, something we’ve all known since David Bell was let go last month.

Former Red Reporter Fearless Leader Joel Luckhaupt helped relay the news on Bluesky.

Brad Mills is the big-name addition to the group, as he’ll join longtime crony Francona as one of the team’s bench coaches after a lengthy coaching career that saw him manage the Houston Astros from 2010-2012. He’ll pair with Freddie Benavides, who will also coach some bench again for Cincinnati in 2025.

It probably should not come as too large of a surprise that there was a solid bit of holdover from the previous coaching staff. Given that the core of the roster isn’t going anywhere this winter despite the disappointing 2024 season (and that they’re all mostly still young, developing players), it makes some sense to keep a decent baseline of normalcy for them while adding a few proven voices - one of whom will end up in Cooperstown - atop the pecking order.