The Boston Red Sox will have a different look on the hitting side of their coaching staff, but there will be a familiar voice leading them in 2022.
Tim Hyers, who has been the team’s hitting coach since the 2018 season, has declined the Red Sox’s offer to return next year, a source confirmed to the Boston Herald. But the club will maintain continuity in their hitting room. According to a source, assistant hitting coach Peter Fatse, who has been with the team for the last two seasons, will become the new hitting coach.
News of Hyers’ departure was first reported by the Boston Globe.
Hyers was hired in 2017 as part of Manager Alex Cora’s staff and it paid immediate dividends. Guided by Hyers and some different offensive philosophies, the Red Sox had the best offense in baseball in 2018, leading the league in runs per game (5.4) on their way to a dominant World Series title. Over Hyers’ four seasons in Boston, the Red Sox led baseball in a number of different offensive categories, including runs per game, slugging percentage and OPS.
Hyers, 50, was in his second stint with Boston after working as an area scout from 2009-12 before becoming the team’s minor league hitting coordinator. He was the Los Angeles Dodgers’ assistant hitting coach in 2016 and 2017 before returning to the Red Sox.
The 34-year-old Fatse, a Massachusetts native from Hampden, joined the Red Sox’s coaching staff as an assistant hitting coach under Hyers in 2020 after spending the 2019 season with the Minnesota Twins as a minor league hitting coordinator. Fatse played college baseball at UConn, where he played one season with Red Sox reliever Matt Barnes, and was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 2009 draft. He played four professional seasons.
Hyers’ departure and Fatse’s promotion is the second known Red Sox coaching change. Last Monday, the club announced that first-base coach Tom Goodwin would not return. The rest of the coaching staff is expected to return, though the rest of the setup on the hitting side is still to be determined.
RANGERS: The Texas Rangers have hired Donnie Ecker as their bench coach and also offensive coordinator, a role in which he will oversee the organization’s overall hitting program at both the major and minor league levels.
Texas is coming off a 102-loss season and ranked 29th in the majors with a .232 team batting average. The Rangers were last with a .670 OPS, and their American League-low 625 runs were 34 fewer than the Baltimore Orioles.
Ecker was introduced as the replacement for bench coach Don Wakamatsu, who was not retained after the season. The 35-year-old Ecker spent the past two seasons as a hitting coach for the San Francisco Giants.
The Rangers also didn’t bring back hitting instructors Luis Ortiz and Callix Crabbe. Those positions have not yet been filled by the team.
Texas also hired Josh Bonifay as director of player development. He was previously with the Rangers as major league field coordinator in 2017, and spent the past three seasons as director of player development for Philadelphia.
During Ecker’s time in San Francisco, the Giants improved from 14th in the National League with a .694 OPS in 2019, to leading the league at .769 this season. The Giants finished second in the NL with 804 runs scored this year, and set a franchise record with 241 home runs.
Rangers Manager Chris Woodward said Ecker would have a significant say in who is hired as the team’s new hitting coach.
METS: The Mets finally decided that they’re not bringing back embattled acting general manager Zack Scott, a team source confirmed.
Scott was arrested for driving under the influence in White Plains on Aug. 31 and placed on leave by the Mets. The executive pleaded not guilty on Sept. 2 and is facing a trial in early December.
Owner Steve Cohen and team president Sandy Alderson had barely communicated with Scott since his arrest, as the New York Daily News reported last week. The franchise’s decision-makers, whoever that may be, had previously appeared content to wait until the outcome of Scott’s trial to make a decision on his future.
Scott made it less than a year with the Mets. He interviewed for the general manager position after the 2020 season, finishing as a runner-up to Jared Porter and accepting a consolation prize as assistant general manager in Queens after 17 years with the Red Sox. He was elevating to acting general manager after Jared Porter was fired for sexually harassing a reporter years earlier.
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