Yankees Discussed Hiring New Hitting Coach

After the Yankees fired Kevin Long on October 10th, they’ve had an opening for the hitting coach job on their staff that I’m sure many coaches in today’s game would love to have.

According to The New York Post, the Yanks front office has had internal discussions about possibly hiring veteran hitting coach, Jeff Pentland. There has yet to be any official offer however, as Pentland has not even been contacted by the team.

Although, some of us may not be too familiar with Pentland, he does have some connections inside the Yankees organization. From 2000 through 2002, Joe Girardi played under him with the Chicago Cubs. Yankees pitching coach, Larry Rothschild, also worked with Pentland in Chicago during the 2002 season.

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The 68-year-old Pentland has worked in the big leagues since 1996 and coached for five different clubs; his last being the Miami Marlins as their hitting coordinator for the 2014 season.

When it comes to hitting coaches, I’d be lying if I said I was completely indifferent to them. I believe it’s arguably the most overrated job in the entire sport, and I don’t think firing Long and hiring Pentland is going to have any effect on the outcome of the upcoming season. Major League players have always known how to hit. Sure they all fall into slumps every now and then, and some people like to praise the hitting coach when those slumps turn around. But let’s be honest: Kevin Long was not the reason for the Yankees anemic offense last season. He was just the scape goat.

But they can go ahead and hire Jeff Pentland or anyone off the street for all I care. It won’t make a difference. The Yankees offense will improve when guys like Mark Teixeira, Carlos Beltran, and Brian McCann start producing like they should. Hiring Jeff Pentland isn’t going to magically make their bats more potent.