Forgotten Yankees hitting coaching hire reintroduces himself, reveals he exists

Question for the New York Yankees diehards out there: Did you know the team hired Jarret DeHart, dismissed from the Seattle Mariners' coaching staff last summer, as their "director of hitting" for 2025? Did you know that such a move was made two months ago? Understand if you were distracted by the Juan Soto stuff, but yeah! That happened!

DeHart announced, "gratefully", that he was putting on the pinstripes back in November. If you missed that post, we don't blame you, as it was deleted from social media, and exists only as a Reddit skeleton these days.

Perhaps he jumped the gun? Either way, DeHart, a lifelong Yankee fan since birth, clearly didn't get cold feet, explaining his role and expanding on the news drop in a Q&A with The Daily News' Gary Phillips on Wednesday.

With such a large coaching exodus from the Yankees' pipeline this offseason, we can't lie to you. It feels good to write about someone joining rather than leaving.

Yankees' new Director of Hitting Jarret DeHart is a lifelong fan

Much like Santa encountering the M&Ms, this mostly had us muttering, "He does exist!"

As the "director of hitting," DeHart noted that he will mainly be absorbing the responsibilities of Joe Migliaccio, who has since moved onto the Marlins after serving as the Yankees' minor-league hitting coordinator from 2022-24. Notably, though, the Yankees do have another new hire whose title will be the same as Migliaccio's old one: Jake Hirst. Confusing, but ... good luck to Jake Hirst!

While in Seattle, DeHart oversaw offenses that struggled in a spacious home ballpark, but actually finished 11th best in the league from 2021-24 in terms of weighted runs created. When their sluggish statistics were adjusted for SafeCo -- ugh, fine, T-Mobile Park -- the Mariners actually looked like a brighter light.

Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to save DeHart's bacon; he was purged alongside manager Scott Servais midway through the 2024 season while the team was in the doldrums.

Perhaps, though, the dismissal was fortunate. After all, it allowed DeHart to return to the team whose insignias adorned his childhood bedroom wall. That's a tough opportunity to turn down, even if the title doesn't totally make sense.