New York Yankees News: Marcus Thames Named Assistant Hitting Coach

The search for the New York Yankees next assistant coach did not last long. According to George King of the New York Post, the Yankees have named Marcus Thames as one of their hitting coaches. Thames will be joining Alan Cockrell, who has been with the Yankees for one season. Cockrell will be the primary hitting coach. It was announced back on October 19 that Jeff Pentland would not be brought back on staff after he joined the team for this past season.

Thames has been with the Yankees’ organization as a hitting coach since 2013, but at the minor league levels. Over the last three seasons, he has been the hitting coach at high-A Tampa, double-A Trenton, and triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre. One of the pluses of bringing Thames on the Major League staff is that he has worked with some of the younger players such as first baseman Greg Bird and second baseman Rob Refsnyder.

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The Yankees drafted Thames in the 30^th round of the 1996 MLB Draft out of Texas State University. He made his Major League debut with the Bronx Bombers back in 2002. Over his ten-year career, Thames had a .246 career batting average with 115 home runs and 301 RBI’s with the Yankees, Rangers, Tigers, and Dodgers. His last season in the big leagues was in 2011 when he played in 36 games with Los Angeles (.197, 2 HR, 7 RBI’s in 36 games).

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In both years with the Yankees (2002 and 2010), the now 38-year-old had a slash line of .284/.344/.493 with 13 home runs, 35 RBI’s, and 24 runs scored in 89 games.

During the 2010 season, he played 82 games and hit .288 with 12 home runs and 33 RBI’s. Thames’ best month was in August when he hit .344 in 61 at-bats with seven home runs and 14 RBI’s. All seven home runs that month were hit from August 24-August 30, a stretch in which he drove in ten runs.

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To me, this hire is a year overdue. Thames was able to work at all three upper levels of the minor league system and gain some valuable experience that he can use at the Major League level. If you are going to have assistant hitting coaches, it is a good idea to have a coach who has worked with some of the younger players on the roster such as Bird and Refsnyder, who could be on the Yankees’ Opening Day roster in 2016.

Hopefully, the Yankees find stability at hitting coach after watching former hitting coach Kevin Long be a part of the Mets team that just played in the World Series in his first season in Queens.