The New York Yankees reportedly reached out to one of the franchise’s most popular players to fill a key position on their coaching staff before the start of the season.
On Monday, the New York Yankees made headlines when they fired hitting coach Dillon Lawson. The decision was not completely unexpected with the team unlikely to win the American League East and sitting just outside the Wild Card picture. At some point, heads were going to roll for the team’s poor showing, and manager Aaron Boone’s job seems to be safe.
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The reason Lawson ended up being the odd man out is because the New York Yankees’ 49-42 record can mostly be blamed on their horrid hitting in 2023. Their .231 batting average is tied with the lowly Detroit Tigers and Oakland Athletics for worst in MLB. Furthermore, they are also 26th in on-base percentage and 29th in total hits.
With the lineup in desperate need of some new ideas and a different approach, the organization made the unorthodox decision to hire inexperienced three-time All-Star Sean Casey to be their new hitting coach. The MLB network analyst has not coached in the minors or majors, however, being a former teammate of skipper Aaron Boone likely played a key role.
New York Yankees tried to rehire Don Mattingly as a hitting coach in the offseason
Lawson clearly was not been able to get the job done, but a new report from SNY MLB insider Andy Martino suggests there were signs there could be problems months ago. Assistant hitting coach Hensley Meulens departed to get the main job for the Colorado Rockies during the offseason, and that apparently was the start of the trouble for the team at the plate.
“Yankees hitters gravitated toward Meulens for advice, and many team officials were upset to lose him,” Martino wrote. “Now they are left to wonder if Meulens’ departure threw off a delicate balance and exposed Lawson’s inability to get buy-in from big league hitters.”
The New York Yankees were well aware of the possible problems Meulens’ departure could cause, and according to Martino the team actually reached out to legendary first basemen Don Mattingly about the opening. However, the Toronto Blue Jays came calling during the offseason with a bigger role and Mattingly instead accepted that job.
Between 2003 and 2011, Mattingly served as a batting coach and then bench coach for the Yankees.