The Red Sox have hired Dillon Lawson to a hitting coordinator role, with Lawson himself relaying the news to Brendan Kuty of The Athletic. Lawson will be working primarily with Boston’s upper-level minor leaguers.
Lawson was hired to work in the Yankees’ organization in 2018 and made the jump to that club’s major league hitting coach prior to the 2022 season. With the club later struggling in 2023, the Yanks made the surprising decision to fire Lawson in July, the first time they fired a coach mid-season since Brian Cashman became general manager in 1998.
Sean Casey took over for that job for the second half and didn’t really have much of an obvious impact. It’s always difficult to assign blame or credit when it comes to coaches and the players they work with, but the Yanks had a wRC+ of 96 before Lawson was fired this year and a 92 after. Casey decided not to come back for 2024, with the Yankees hiring James Rowson to take on the hitting coach job next year.
Per Kuty’s report, Lawson is already familiar with some employees of the Red Sox, including Jason Ochart, Peter Fatse, Ben Rosenthal and Luis Ortiz. “I’m excited to be joining a great team that’s already moving in the right direction,” Lawson said.