It’s one of the most thankless positions in sports. Hitting Coach.
After three seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers, Andy Haines is looking for work. The Brewers will not renew Haines’s contract after a season in which they hit .233 as a team.
In his three seasons as hitting coach, the Brewers posted their worst team batting average in franchise history, and third worst team batting average in franchise history.
Haines will never get credit for the bounce-back seasons of Avasail Garcia and Omar Narvaez…or the breakout performance of Luis Urias.
Haines will only get blamed for Christian Yelich’s perplexing two-season slump, and Keston Hiura’s fall from a hitting savant to triple-A regular.
How much are you willing to blame Haines for the Brewers shaky start and finish to the regular season? How much are you willing to blame Haines for the team scoring six runs in four playoff games?
They rarely receive the credit; they commonly receive the blame…fair or not.
Who should be the next hitting coach of the Milwaukee Brewers?
It doesn’t matter.