Cubs Make Yet Another Hitting Coach Change
Few jobs in baseball are as unstable as the position of Cubs hitting coach.
Chicago employed 14 different hitting and assistant hitting coaches between the 2012 and 2022 seasons, a staggering number that speaks to the gig’s volatility. Now the Cubs have made another change, as The Athletic’s Sahadev Sharma and Patrick Mooney reported that Greg Brown will not return after less than one year on the job. Brown was offered an alternative position with the franchise but chose to pursue other opportunities. Minor-league hitting coordinator Dustin Kelly will replace Brown, according to Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune.
Brown, who previously worked in the Rays’ organization as a minor league hitting coordinator, oversaw a Cubs offense that finished in the bottom half of the league in runs, home runs, RBI, strikeout rate, average, on-base percentage, slugging and wRC+. The Cubs came in third place in the National League Central with a 74-88 record.
Kelly, meanwhile, has been the Cubs’ minor-league hitting coordinator for the last two seasons. He has additional experience in the Dodgers’ system, and he played three seasons of minor league ball for the Red Sox from 2004-2006. The Cuesta College (San Luis Obispo, California) product never advanced past Double-A.
The Cubs are hoping that Kelly will spend more than one season as the team’s big league hitting coach, but that’s proven difficult for other men in his position. The full list of Cubs hitting coaches since 2012, including assistants, is as follows: Rudy Jaramillo, James Rowson, Rob Deer, Bill Mueller, Mike Brumley, John Mallee, Eric Hinske, Chili Davis, Andy Haines, Anthony Iapoce, Terrmel Sledge, Chris Valaika, Greg Brown, Johnny Washington, and Dustin Kelly.
The Cubs won the World Series in 2016, breaking a 108-year course, with Mallee serving as hitting coach and Hinske working as his assistant.
