Yankees fire hιtting coach Dillon Lawson after dismal offensιve first half: ‘A change was needed’
The New York Yankees made a change as hitting coach following one of their worst offensιve first half in team history, the team announced after Sunday’s defeat to the Chicago Cubs (CHC 7, NYY 4). The Yankees have fired hitting coach Dillon Lawson, but they haven’t yet named a replacement or stated whether assistant hitting coaches Casey Dykes and Brad Wilkerson will stay on.
In a statement, general manager Brian Cashman said that he has previously been reluctant to change the coaching staff in the middle of a season. “I really think that both wins and failures are the result of group efforts. Nevertheless, I eventually believed that a change was necessary and that a fresh perspective leading our hitting operations would give us the best opportunity to play more accurately as we advance into the second part of our season. I would like to thank Dillon for all of his work. He possesses a sharp baseball intellect, which will help him have a successful and lengthy baseball career.
Since Cashman assumed the role of general manager before the 1998 season, the Yankees have never fired a coach in the middle of the current campaign. Since 1995, the team has not seen a coaching change mid-season under any general manager.
The Yankees’ team batting line on Sunday was.230/.300/.409. They have a batting average that is 29th, an on-base percentage that is 27th, and a slugging percentage that is 14th. The 19th most runs are scored per game in baseball, on average, in New York. The worst offensιve seasons of some veterans’ careers, notably Giancarlo Stanton and DJ LeMahieu, are currently underway.
Aaron Judge, the current AL MVP, has not played since ripping a toe ligament on June 2 after colliding with a wall at Dodger Stadium. The Yankees are batting.215/.285/.383 and scoring 3.84 runs per game on average since Judge’s ιnjury. Since Judge was hurt in 32 games, they had a 15-17 record. Losing a player of that quality obviously hurts, but Judge’s absences don’t fully account for the subpar performance.
The Yankees’ record now stands at 49-42 after their defeat on Sunday. They are one game ahead of last place in the AL East going into the All-Star break and one game behind the third and final American League wild-card slot.
Before joining the big-league coaching staff last year, Lawson, 38, was a minor-league coach for New York.