Help Wanted: Hitting Coach

In a move I won’t call rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic, the White Sox fired hitting coach Jose Castro and reassigned assistant hitting coach Chris Johnson. Major-league field coordinator Mike Tosar also had a say in hitting this season, leading to what manager Mickey Mouse accurately, if unwittingly, referred to before the season started as “almost probably a two-and-a-half-headed monster.” And the monster accomplished what monsters do, which is nothing good. Sox hitters ranked 25th in batting average; last in on-base percentage; 29th in runs scored; last in walks; and 12th in strikeouts. Good God, y’all. The analytics crowd would have you believe hitting is a science, pure and simple. I come from the Bill Robinson school. The former big-league outfielder who didn’t figure out how to hit until he turned thirty (and, boy, could he hit after that) believed, “A good hitting instructor is able to mold his teachings to the individual.” Which meant, “If a guy stands on his head, you perfect that.” A million times, yes. Does the coach make the player, the player the coach, or a little bit of both? I vote for option three. A coach who has something to impart can reach players who want to listen. But woe onto the team that thinks coaching consists of reading gizmos and having players reach certain gizmo metrics. The monster couldn’t get Jake Burger to hit for average (power, yes). When Burger went over to the Marlins, his BA jumped from .214 to .303. Two of the three Miami hitting coaches, Brant Brown and John Mabry, spent considerable time in the majors. Did that help them relate to Burger and vice versa? The numbers would appear to speak for themselves. At various points over the last twenty-eight years, the Sox have employed the likes of Harold Baines; Bill Buckner; Chili Davis; Greg Walker; and Gary Ward as hitting coaches, along with Castro; Jeff Manto; Greg Sparks; and Todd Steverson. I know who I’d want teaching me from those names. Maybe someday the Sox will have coaches able to teach and players willing to learn.