The Yankees finalized their coaching staff this evening, announcing the group that’ll be assisting manager Aaron Boone. Bench coach Carlos Mendoza and pitching coach Matt Blake are each back for third seasons in their respective roles. As previously reported, Dillon Lawson takes over as hitting coach to replace Marcus Thames.
Perhaps of most interest, the Yankees announced they’ve added longtime big league third baseman Eric Chávez as an assistant hitting coach. The left-handed hitter appeared in 17 MLB seasons between 1998-2014, compiling a career .268/.342/.475 line that checked in 13 points above the league average by measure of wRC+. Chávez spent the 2011-12 seasons with the Yankees, but he’s best known for his run with the A’s. During his time in Oakland, he earned six consecutive Gold Glove awards from 2001-06. He also claimed a Silver Slugger in 2002, a season in which he hit .275/.348/.513 and earned a 14th-place finish in AL MVP balloting.
Chávez hung up his spikes in July 2014 and quickly jumped into his post-playing days in the Bronx. He accepted a role as a special assignment scout with the Yankees before making the jump to the Angels’ front office after the 2015 campaign. Chávez spent the next few seasons there — including an interim stint managing in Triple-A. The 44-year-old had been mentioned as a candidate for managerial searches in both Anaheim and Texas in years past, although this’ll be his first stint on an MLB coaching staff.
Joining Chávez as an assistant hitting coach is Casey Dykes. The 31-year-old was poached away from Indiana University after the 2019 season, part of a leaguewide trend for teams looking to the amateur ranks in search of coaching talent. Dykes spent the 2021 campaign coaching hitters with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre but will now get a bump to the big league level.
In other new additions to the staff, the club confirmed the previously-reported hirings of former Mets’ manager Luis Rojas as third base/outfield coach and Desi Druschel as assistant pitching coach. Longtime minor league coach and field coordinator Travis Chapman gets a bump to the big league staff as first base/infield coach. New York also brought back bullpen coach Mike Harkey and quality control/catching coach Tanner Swanson in the same roles.
Henry Aaron is the only player with 400 total bases during the 1950’s and 1960’s. Bad Henry did this in 1959.
And from the 1940’s thru the 1980’s only Aaron Musial and Jim Rice hit the 400 total base mark.
Cool. You still paying for sad sex?
I like the Chavez hire, but I’m never sure if former-players or never-beens make better hitting coaches. Either way the players’ performance gets blamed on them, and they get the ax. Definitely nice to see to a former player with a more consistent batting average get the job than someone like Marcus Thames. We’ll see if that difference in approach translates to better results from Yankee hitters…
The most important hire of the group is Dillon Lawson. The Yankees revamped their minor league hitting approach under Lawson a couple years back and have had good success. Quite a few breakouts under his approach. As Marcus Thames was leaving, he pretty much said that the Yankees didn’t believe the philosophy they were teaching in the minors was being embraced on the MLB level, and there was a disconnect in the info being delivered. It pretty much pointed to Lawson taking over. Adding in someone like Chavez brings a former big leaguer into the equation that the hitters can respect and who can help translate some of the analytics Lawson uses. The Yankees knew if Lawson didn’t get the position, he was about to be offered a big league hitting coach job with another organization. Look at it this way. Matt Blake had no MLB experience as a pitching coach until the Yankees hired him. They had the second highest fWAR in the AL last year.
I’ve read it a few times that the best hitters are some times just natural hitters and have a difficult time trying to teach others what they do, while the “never-beens” study a lot and can pass on valuable info.
Lawson and Blake are two key coaches that could have significant impacts (in Blake’s case, again). Those guys are really the coaches of the future for this team. Blake did a phenomenal job last season with a mediocre rotation outperforming their potential by essentially every metric.
Many boxing cornermen weren’t good boxers, but were excellent trainers. Instruction doesn’t stem from performance; more so from observation & communication.
Not sure what we can glean from a comparison of Thames’ & Chavez’ MLB batting averages, @Acuna.
Yanks offense definitely fell apart last year. I think a change at batting coach is not only late, but was inevitable. But Thames & Pilittere had some wildly successful years prior to ’21:
2018 2nd in MLB in scored with 851
2019 1st in MLB in runs scored with 943(!)
2020 4th in MLB in runs scored with 315
Matter of fact, from what I can see, the Yankees reached home more than any other team in baseball from 2018-20. Can’t do any better than that, man. The wheels fall off in ’21 as we finished 19th. But Thames oversaw some explosive offenses. We will be very fortunate if Lawson can match the production of Thames prior to 2021.
If their offensive success can really be attributed to Thames & Co. then they also have to explain their apparent failure this year [obviously all is relative, but they were 14th in the MLB in offensive WAR, 23rd in AVG]
Surprisingly enough they lead all teams in BB%, implying that they had above-average plate discipline, but their contact % was 23rd in the league…..
And regardless, many Yankees hitters have had extreme inconsistency in performance through the past couple of seasons, which seems like a red-flag.
I’m not attributing their offensive success to Thames. In the end, hitters gotta hit. Not the coaches. & I noted that a change there was needed. Probably in-season.
But I am pointing out that Thames oversaw some elite offenses. Obviously, his message was no longer getting through/relevant. However, his first couple seasons, players raved about him & we had some excellent on-field results under him.
I would love Lawson to equal or better that.
It may not be all that easy (or even realistic) to do though.
It wasn’t Thames’s fault. Manfred switched the balls up more often with the Yankees.
All excellent points. Honestly, Ducky, I didn’t think Thames was as much an issue as Boone. Nonetheless, probably was time for a reboot in the hitting coach arena.
That’s the danger in replacing the devil you know…hopefully the next can can at least match performance. I do believe Lawson will be instrumental moving forward because of his involvement at the lower levels – as those guys (Volpe, Wells, Dunham) move up, he will already have their buy-in.
Maybe it’s a simple matter of Thames being an excellent coach with a hopped up baseball & a crappy one without.
But the team wide offensive funk made a change there imperative. It’ll be interesting to see how Thames fares down in Miami. He’s a fly ball, TTO aficionado. However, it seems that approach has been exposed over the last season & a half.
& don’t get me wrong.
Lots of good & interesting things being said about Lawson. I have high hopes there. But merely matching Thames’ first couple years in New York would be pretty impressive & a fairly tall order. Those clubs put a lot of runs on the scoreboard.
Here’s why Thames was let go: the inability to make Gary Sanchez a better all-around hitter.
To watch two consecutive years with Sanchez looking list; unable to achieve any consistency.
If a student fails in school, you don’t usually fire his teacher. But in this case, Cashman concluded that part of Sanchez’s failures had to be blamed on his professor.
The list includes a lot more names than just Sanchez.
What happened to Gleyber? DJ was certainly uninspiring last season. Voit – even when healthy – took a step back. Before he went down with injury, Hicks wasn’t hitting much. No dead cat bounce for Gardy. Gio: step back. Higashioka looked awful for the most part. Ditto Tyler Wade. Gallo & Rizzo both were hitting better before they were traded.
On & on it went.
Judge & Stanton had good years. Yet far from their best. Whatever happened in 2021 it happened to all of our hitters. Sanchez was actually one of our few above average offensive players.
I know everyone wants to blame Gary all the time. But Thames didn’t appear to actually help *anyone*.
@Ducky, I think you just hit upon the issue. The Yankees have delivered a number of very good prospects to the majors in recent years, they arrived with a splash, they hit well at first, and then they regressed. Gary was a god for his first few seasons, then he was horrible. Gleyber was fantastic…until he wasn’t. Miguel Andujar tied the MLB record for rookie doubles, no small task when Yankee Stadium is your home park as it significantly reduces all types of extra-base hits outside of HRs to right. Clint Frazier never seemed to progress. Some can be attributed to injuries, such as Miggy Two Bags, but for the most part, their hitting coaches, if not failed, certainly have not helped them outside of a man named Judge, and Judge employs his own hitting coach! One, even two, regressing can be explained, but all of them?
Now let’s enter the conspiracy zone, just because why not.
Judge
Home: 259/.350/.459 — 15 HR
Road: .314/.394/.625 — 24 HR
Stanton
Home: .254/.342/.457 — 15 HR
Road: .291/.366/.575 — 20 HR
LeMahieu
Home: .257/.334/.329 — 5 HR
Road: .279/.363/.393 — 5 HR
I never make much of home-road splits. I fall in the camp of you need a minimum of three years to draw conclusions, and I actually prefer five years, so these odd splits may be, likely are, just randomness. The problem though is the underlying analytics also show anomalies between the Yankees hitting at home and on the road. The LeMahieu data on the surface may seem the least interesting, but it’s actually the most interesting. His hitting on the road in 2021 was basically in line with how he hit on the road in 2019 and 2020. His hitting at home collapsed. Not just normalized, but collapsed. His style of hitting if made for Yankee Stadium, but the park actually hurt him in 2021. Randomness again? Maybe.
The conspiracy? Well, we know that MLB used two different balls in 2021. One was jacked, one was deadened. They insisted the jacked balls were left over from prior seasons, but they’ve already been caught in a lie there. The jacked balls showed they were manufactured in 2021, not prior seasons. They also insist the balls were randomly distributed, but how do we know that? MLB has been introducing humidors in various parks, but not announcing when at where at the start. We also know they’ve screwing around with baseballs for years. Why would we assume the balls were distributed randomly? Doesn’t it seem more likely that they would target certain parks for deadened and jacked balls to further assess how to control offense. Yankee Stadium would certainly makes sense as a place you’d want to experiment with the deadened ball. In fairness, other hitters, such as Urshela, hitter better at the Stadium.
If, however, this theory is true, then Thames and company could have been victims of an experiment. He was training his hitters to a certain style based on who he thought they were and their home ballpark. This is not my theory, btw. It’s been reported elsewhere, but I will say I’m a bit stunned that the two baseballs used in 2021 has not been a much, much bigger story. There is some speculation that the jacked ball was also used in the Field of Dreams game. A huge national audience? Manfred would want offense.
Do I think this is true? I’d bet against it, but MLB no longer deserves the benefit of the doubt when it comes to what they’re doing with baseballs.
I really want to disagree with what is implied here, but I’m not sure I can. Your last sentence sums it up. The baseball is the most critical aspect of the game, yet MLB keeps screwing around with it to such a degree and is so opaque on what they’re doing, that it’s entirely fair game to question results.
The Field of Dreams game and the London games in 2019 were such crazy offensive explosions that maybe we should be questioning the ball in those showcase events.
How can MLB embrace betting and gambling, as they seem to be considering, if the very ball is in question?
Man.
Thanks for such a well thought out & nuanced take, @RobM. I typically cringe at the mention of conspiracy theories. But…man…lot to think about with this one.
I can’t ever recall watching a team look so much worse offensively with a turnaround of just one season. No idea what happened there. I felt the *one thing* we wouldn’t have to worry about was scoring runs. Then – well – we couldn’t score any runs. Same guys. Same park. Same coaches.
So: what gives?
How do you go from scoring the most runs in MLB over a 3 year period to having NL teams outscoring you? How does that make sense? How is it even possible? A handful of guys = sure. We have all seen that.
But an entire lineup? & bench? They all cratered or performed below their projections. & not a single career year in the lot. Really hard to figure.
I just don’t know what to think.
This sure would explain things…but I would never post something like that.
Good post. Lot to think about.
I agree. My instincts are to always move away from anything conspiratorial, although I’m not sure this is even conspiratorial. We know MLB and Manfred are changing the baseball yearly, some years flatter seams, some years the ball is more jacked, now supposedly there’s a deadened ball, and it appears this past year they used a combination of both. Plus, they also decided to finally crack down on sticky substances after decades of allowing it. I don’t believe it’s with bad intent. I believe they really are trying to measure the impact of balls on offense, perhaps trying to settle on a more consistent one. Next up: pre-tacked balls!
If forced to pick, I’d say no, they didn’t purposely used deadened balls at Yankee Stadium last year, but I’m not sure. I can’t simply brush this one away. I’ve been watching Yankee baseball for decades. I can tell off the bat if a ball is gone, an easy out, or is going to be a wall scrapper. I’m sure fans of all teams can do the same for their home teams. Last year, I lost track of how many balls I thought were out of the park that simply landed in the glove of the OFer, but these “misreads” were almost always at Yankee Stadium, rarely on the road. LeMahieu in particular seemed to be hurt quite a bit.
2022 will be a new year. Perhaps things will return to normal. Whatever normal is!
Any idea what opponents splits were like in Yankees Stadium as compared to elsewhere? That would definitely add oomph to the (conspiracy) theory if they also dipped….
RobM: Very good points. It would be helpful if MLB shared with everyone where each type of ball was used in 2021 so teams could better evaluate players and coaches. It seems unethical to not share this information. Maybe players would sue that they were discriminated against if the info came out. From an experimentation standpoint, each set of variables (ball/players/stadium/sticky stuff or not) is a separate experiment. I wonder if they can reach any good conclusions when looking at the results of many small experiments. It would be better to run one large experiment where the ball and sticky stuff was the same everywhere for a whole season.
“Last year, I lost track of how many balls I thought were out of the park that simply landed in the glove of the OF’er…”
This ^.
So many times this ^^^.
Man, for real. You can see it in my posts from last season. So many had a “why are we not hitting home runs like we used to/should be” theme.
We were built around hitting jacks. For better or worse, which is a debate we could have. & they just dried up. Throughout the entire lineup. Tell ya…I was fine with blaming Thames. I truly was. But…everything you are posting tallies with *exactly what I saw*.
This would surely explain things.
Kinda pisses me off too, man.
RobM: I’m not exactly sure how to respond. Conspiracy theory has….a negative connotation, yet here in this light it does make perfect sense. Not just because it’s the Yankees. It would explain what some players’ observations were too regarding their perceived homers turning into track outs.
Man, just a well-written piece, Rob. The stat splits speak volumes. The incredible dip in offense speaks volumes, the dual-ball usage lends more credibility, and MLB’s lack of transparency/integrity further supports your postulation.
If Yankee pitcher stats are better at home than away, that would be more evidence of dead balls used at Yankee Stadium. It sounds like juiced balls and dead balls both fall within MLB’s manufacturing specifications which is a huge problem.
If he puts up one or two more posts like this, we should just get him his own blog.
As Yankee fans, you guys know about all the conspiracy stuff involving us that crackpot fans of other teams like to foster; steroids, Torre, e sign stealing, media perception, Torre, player/prospect valuations, Torre, favorable trades, etc. No shortage of them.
& I go out of my way to not question the 2017 postseason results. Because there is a real negative – oftentimes comical – perception around conspiracy type stuff. & I do not care for external blame (i.e. umps, etc). & this feels like it could be perceived that way; “guess what the Yankee guys are complaining about now”. Uh? I can hear it!
But man, did that series of posts ever make me think. What did I say all summer Clip? “We just need to start hitting more home runs”. Now. It’s true that all those jacks had been covering some pretty unseemly aspects of our team. But: that is how we were built. Without the long ball we were at a serious disadvantage.
One other possibility has come to mind: MLB may have inadvertently released two different balls into games since both types of balls supposedly meet MLB’s specifications. They realized this mistake and tried to cover it up by banning pitchers from using sticky stuff. Now you can’t really figure out what caused changes in pitching and hitting stats. Was it the change to the ball or the change in the pitcher’s ability to grip the ball? Banning sticky stuff has rendered the data uninterpretable and MLB can now say there is no proof that two different balls affected outcomes. I think the fact that sticky stuff was banned in the middle of the season adds credence to that being used as a cover up because: When has a big rule change ever been implemented in the middle of a season?
Yeah you did, Ducky. You kept saying that. Now, it has me wondering about Milb. We saw some incredible gains in Milb power, ie, Volpe, Dunham, & Cabrera. Could the dual-ball usage play a role in those numbers? Will there be a significant drop off next season amongst the standouts if they transition completely to dead balls? Will Ohtani miraculously drop to 19 HRs now?
Ya know, out of all the homers in the “dead ball” season of ‘21 one keeps coming back as a major red flag: Cabrera hitting one at home in the snow! In his prime, okay, but now? That just never seemed right, especially for a dead baseball.
Hard to score runs when you lead the league in GIDP! Weird thing to have happen, but if you watched the Yankees play last year so many innings were snubbed out by double play balls that it was hard to watch. We knew what was coming with the bases loaded and one out!
Interesting. I do really like Dillon Lawson, but Eric Chavez is a fantastic get as an assistant hitting coach. When he was his prime, he was probably one of the best third basemen in baseball. He was a very balanced hitter over his career, even though he mainly excelled in the homerun department.
Yea, gotta figure he’s gonna be a help to the infielders as well
I agree. For better or worse, the old As teams let Giambi, Tejada, and others walk, but they signed Chavez long term. Probably was a bad move as injuries derailed him. He became an awesome spare part on the 11-12 Yankees because when asked to contribute 50-60% of the time, he thrived (versus all on him in Oakland)
Anything on them hiring a new head groundskeeper
I heard the guy in AAA is fantastic
I wonder if any of them will comment on Clint Frazier.
Or Rob Refsnyder…
One thing kind of lost in the shuffle here is how these hires extend Cash’s influence even further into the dugout. Nevin was the only coach that Boone was “allowed” to hire. & he gone. Replaced with another Cashman guy. Now he is adding even more coaches to the equation all of whom are His Guys.
This team has become all Brian Cashman.
I can’t think of another GM that has the sweeping authority that Cash does.
While he may have extreme influence in the dugout, if Hal ever wants him gone then having his guys in the dugout won’t save his job. Might even give his hires less job-security if he’s ever gotten rid of (unlikely as that seems)
Oh, for sure.
I’m just pretty impressed with how Cash has infiltrated & influenced basically every aspect of the NYY; personnel, coaches, manager, MiLB, pitching, hitting, training, analytics, finances… His influence is everywhere by now.
Some pretty Machiavellian stuff.
His guys compile the roster, make out the lineup, script the bullpen, call the game, etc. That seems like an unprecedented amount of power on an MLB team for one individual.
When viewing Cash’s history, it’s easy to see why he *may* have had that much influence at one time. But, post-dynasty, not so easy, and it’s only increased. It does make sense because he’s earned Hal’s trust, thus, the team is entrusted to him.
And, I’m not saying Cashman was in any way responsible for the 90’s dynasty, because he had as much to do with it as Hal did.
Luis Rojas isn’t a Cashman guy. He vibed with Boone during the interview and wad brought in from the outside.
For those suggesting that the Yankees will win it all simply because they followed up both the 1957 Braves championship and the 1995 Braves championship with championships of their own, the Yankees were nowhere to be found in 1915. It means absolutely nothing in 2022. It’s just something that happened decades ago.
Teams with poor speed, defense and one pitcher capable of 200 innings aren’t ever going to win it all, according to history.
The next four World Series winners (in no particular order) will be the Giants, Dodgers, Red Sox and Braves..
None of this matters
Honestly, who really cares? Let’s get labor crap fixed… and if coaches were that important Carlos Beltran would be on coaching staff as well.
@ Bigtimeyankeefan;
No.
Compare Rothschild – who actually ruined Yankee pitching prospects (not that they were necessarily as good as publicized) to what Blake has done. And the fact that Blake had no experience as a pitching coach meant nothing – he was instrumental in working with Cleveland’s pitching staff, an organization that is among the best in maximizing pitchers abilities.
As for the hitting coach – I’m not in the clubhouse or on the field, so I don’t know how much influence he had with individual players. But I thought it was silly when just about every Yankee RH batter stood in the batters box with their back foot far behind their front foot and their body twisted to hit to RF. Looked like a softball team going at a short fence in RF. And that’s what the Yankees did for years – hitting routine fly balls to the porch in RF. I had to read nonsensical comments on here about how HR’s won championships – as the Yankees couldn’t get to a WS. Finally MLB took some of the juice out of the baseballs in 2021, and many of those routine fly balls turned into routine fly balls. Hence, the need for a new hitting coach.
Yankees continue to chase their tail under Hal / Cashman. Like the diet books that come out every Spring with a new gimmick to get rid or weight put on in the winter. Exercise and eating properly year-round seems to work just fine. They get all caught up in the latest theories instead of simply stressing fundamental baseball.
Any beleive they didn’t hire Chet Lemon in any capacity. Huge mistake!
The only coach on the staff whose value I question is Tanner Swanson.
His putting Sanchez on one knee not only failed to improve Gary’s defense, but it also may have screwed up his hitting, which certainly declined after Swanson started coaching the Yankee backstops. Gary’s framing has suffered, and so has his ability to throw out runners. Many have suggested that Gary’s struggles and frustration with his defense may have infected his hitting, and it’s not a far-fetched idea. Nobody can play successfully without confidence.
Higgy also took a step back defensively this year.
I can’t think of anything that improved with Yankee backstops since Swanson was hired. To the contrary, it’s all gone south, notwithstanding Cashman’s gushing about Sanchez’s allegedly improved defense.
In sum, what the hell has Swanson brought to this team that justifies keeping him on the payroll?
The Yanks sure have bounced Gary’s development all over the place. In truth, we should have just let him be after 2016-18 & quit messing with his approach.
When he came up, he was an elite bat, controlled the running game, & was a very good framer. Yeah, he sucked at blocking. But there is a well known inverse relationship between framing & blocking. In short: only your truly gifted defensive catchers excell (or are even adequate!) at both.
Personally, I had pretty high hopes for Swanson. Twins catchers, players, coaches, etc all rave about him. But this is now Gary’s 3rd makeover & he is probably just getting confusing replies from his muscle memory at this point.
I wouldn’t go so far as to trot out the “ruined him” take. But we did his development no favors & all the changes we have foisted upon him over the past few seasons seems to have had a negative impact on him only.
Your second sentence pretty much sums it up.
We can’t know who — Swanson, the analytics department, or some other culprit — prompted the campaign to reinvent Gary’s defense, but the evidence says it was an ill-considered experiment.
I won’t feign clairvoyance, but it’s not hard to imagine Gary becoming dejected at the constant criticism of his catching and frustrated as it only got worse. When the only time he heard cheers was when he homered, it’s also easy to imagine how that might’ve adversely affected him at the plate.
Before I forget: Happy Holidays, @Mr Person.
Gary actually had defensive value his first three years in the league. He had the widely publicized problem with blocking. However, due to some pretty good framing & an excellent arm he was a positive defensive catcher. & CERA is mostly a BS stat but he ranked well there & always has.
He is not lazy.
Spent his winter in the Dominican working on his hitting. He has put in all kinds of extra work on the knee down stance.
I see a lot of Yankee fans who want to Revenge-DFA him or whatever because his tenure has become so frustrating. A struggling Gary Sanchez is probably the most difficult player I have made myself watch. & ugliness seems to occur in clusters with him.
It does seem he takes an AB with him onto the field & or a mistake defensively into an AB. I don’t care to guess at the psychology of it. But: this constant tinkering has not worked out for him. Rather, it has had the opposite effect. At this point, he is a serviceable catcher. Which – sadly enough – says more about catching as a whole around MLB than it does Gary’s ability.
But I can’t help thinking back sometimes to that kid in 2016 who kept us in the WC race all by himself through August & well into September. Can’t recall ever seeing a batter more locked in over a long stretch myself.
Thanks, Ducky.
Happy Holidays to you and yours.
Brian Cashman and Aaron Boone should have followed Thames and Nevin out the door tbh.
Fascinating discussion about the baseballs, one of my biggest problem with MLB. I find it really difficult to believe that they can’t produce a consistent baseball and determine a precise measurement for its “liveliness”. The trial and error process seems to be about a hundred years out of date. The impact on statistics is so utterly profound that it robs all credibility from a player’s performance? This seems unconscionable, but that’s MLB. Can you imagine other sports tweaking with the ball? Tom Brady? That was OK? Then wtf can MLB not get it together?
Because they want it that way. Scumbags.
The hitting approach isn’t likely to change.
how do you evaluate a hitting coach when the baseball changes from one season to the next? judge and stanton hit home runs regardless of the ball, djlm has less margin for error, and gleyber forgot to change his approach against teams not named the orioles. sanchez is the outlier. his first 750 mlb at-bats weren’t a fluke and he could be “unlocked” by the right hitting coach. still, it appears that moving on from thames was about philosophy more than results