Marlins just gave one of the Yankees' biggest coaching failures another MLB chance

Former New York Yankees hitting coach Dillon Lawson doesn’t exactly have the greatest reputation among fans in the Bronx. After having a hand in creating one of the worst offenses in all of baseball in 2023, Lawson was sent packing. After bouncing around the Boston Red Sox organization for a few years, he has now found himself as the Miami Marlins hitting coach. Even after the Yankees saw some prolonged offensive slumps in 2026, it’s hard to imagine that they are feeling envious of the Marlins right about now.   

As reported by Christina De Nicola of MLB.com, the Marlins have hired Lawson to the position after he spent just four months with the team as a roving hitting coach. Apparently, the Marlins organization liked what they saw with Lawson in his limited time with the club. For any Yankees fans who were subjected to the cruel fate of watching the team try and score runs in 2023, it might be a little hard to imagine what it is that they find appealing. 

Regardless of what fans might think, Lawson obviously made a positive impression on the Marlins in a very short amount of time. His hiring as hitting coach is even a move that has already been endorsed by Marlins director of hitting Joe Migliaccio.     

“We’re excited to welcome Dillon to the Miami Marlins," Migliaccio wrote in a statement to MLB.com. "He’s an excellent fit for our organization and our vision for player development. He combines a strong understanding of hitting with an innovative, collaborative approach and a commitment to continually evolving how we develop players.”

Hey, people should be given every opportunity to redeem themselves, right? Though it is slightly difficult to justify using Lawson in the same sentence as “strong understanding of hitting.” 

Dillon Lawson guided the Yankees to their worst offensive season in nearly a decade

Let’s just state the obvious and defend Lawson a bit here. Aaron Judge missed a significant amount of time during the 2023 season after tearing a ligament in his toe during a game in Dodger Stadium. Fans were so upset that they even wanted Judge to sue the Los Angeles Dodgers. That never happened. However, his absence from the Yankees’ lineup did cause a massive ripple effect that hindered the team’s offense. 

With that said, a team like the Yankees should never score the sixth-fewest runs per game in a season. But that’s exactly what they did in 2023. At 4.15 runs a game, the Yankees barely managed to secure a season above the .500 mark at 82-80. Not only did they miss the playoffs, but several players struggled through some of their worst seasons in their careers.   

Outside of Judge, only Gleyber Torres had an OPS of at least .800 during that tough 2023 season. From Harrison Bader to Josh Donaldson, Yankees players had a miserable time getting on base and crossing home plate. In nearly 300 at-bats, Oswaldo Cabrera boasted an OPS+ of 58. That’s right, 58. By far his most challenging year in the big leagues. 

Was the team-wide offensive struggles solely Lawson’s fault? No. But as hitting coach, he was responsible for helping to get slumping bats back on track and putting players in the best position to get the most out of their swing. Lawson came up severely short just one season after the Yankees finished second in runs scored in all of baseball. But then again, you could probably attribute a bulk of that success to Judge’s 62-home run season. 

Lawson earned high praise for his development work in the Yankees' system, but many believed his simplistic "hit strikes hard" mantra missed the mark, as prospect after prospect hit the bigs with a lack of situational awareness to complement their exit velocities. Translating Lawson's message to big-leaguers proved to be even more of a tough row to hoe.

Being the hitting coach for the Yankees is not the easiest job in the world. When the team is rolling, you have it made. But when hitters struggle and the offense fails to score runs, you can bet that your job is the first one on the chopping block. That’s exactly what happened to Lawson. After seeing both sides of that coin in just two years, he was promptly let go. The Marlins can only hope to see one side of that coin moving forward.   

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