New York Yankees Editorial: Who Will be the Yankees Next Hitting Coach?

This past weekend the Yankees decided to shake things up by firing their hitting coach Jeff Pentland after just one season in the Bronx.

Despite critiquing an offense that scored the second-most runs in the MLB (764) and blasted the fourth most homers (212) in 2015, Pentland became the second hitting coach to be fired by the Yankees in as many seasons.

That said, who will be the Yankees hitting coach come opening day 2016?

If it were up to me, I would choose former Yankee Raul Ibanez. Though Ibanez played just one season for the Yankees in 2012, he was a veteran leader in the Yankees clubhouse and is well-respected across the major leagues. On the field he was an incredible hitter throughout his 19-year career. He owns a career .272/.335/.465 slash line with an .801 OPS including 305 home runs and 1,207 RBI. If you remember correctly, Ibanez’ name was being tossed around last season when the Yankees were in the process of searching for their next hitting coach before they ultimately decided on Jeff Pentland.

If not, the Yankees might decide to remain in-house and give the job to Alan Cockrell who was actually Pentlands assistant in 2015. As you can tell by the aforementioned numbers, the Yankees were actually one of the better offensive teams in 2015. Also, they’re set to field nearly the same entire lineup in 2016, and Cockrell knows the Yankees offense better than any other candidate.

Speaking of remaining in-house, another option might be former Yankee Marcus Thames, who is currently the hitting coach of Yankees AAA affiliate, the Scranton RailRiders. Over the course of his 10-year career, while serving mainly as a fourth outfielder, Thames was a .246 hitter with 115 homers and 301 RBI. The thought process here is that top prospects Gregory Bird, Rob Refsnyder, Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Eric Jagielo and several others have significant experience with Thames down in the minors, and he would essentially be moving up with them.

A complete wild-card option might potentially be ex-Yankee Don Mattingly. After he and the Dodgers were ousted in fives games at the hands of the New York Mets in the NLDS, it seems like his managerial time in Los Angeles is all but over. ‘Donny Baseball’s’ preference is probably to remain a manager, and he’s already been linked to the Miami Marlins, but if he wants to return to New York, maybe, just maybe he’ll take a limited role as the Yankees hitting coach. There’s probably a 0.5% chance of this happening, but I’ve seen crazier things happen in this wonderful game they call baseball.

What do you think Yankees fans? Who should be the next Yankees hitting coach? I’d love to hear your opinions in the comments below.

New York Yankees Editorial: Who Will be the Yankees Next Hitting Coach?

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