Chicago Cubs Retaining Coach After Explosive Offensive Season

The Chicago Cubs have had some changes take place to their organizational structure already this offseason.

One of their coveted executives has been hired away to run another team's baseball operations.

The Cubs also let two of their coaches go earlier this the month who had been with manager David Ross since he was hired.

However, according to Sahadev Sharma and Patrick Mooney of The Athletic, Chicago will retain their hitting coach Dustin Kelly heading into 2024.

"I feel like our hitting department has caught up — or is close to — how much confidence we have in the pitching group," Ross said.

The Cubs finished the 2023 regular season scoring the sixth most runs (819), had the 11th-highest batting average (.254), sixth-highest on-base percentage (.330) and 11th-highest slugging percentage (.421).

This was a marked improvement from 2022 when they finished 22nd, 19th, 17th and 19th respectively in those offensive categories.

Kelly was promoted to the role of hitting coach prior to the 2023 season after serving as the Minor League hitting coordinator the previous two years.

Ross raved about Kelly, saying, "The way he goes about communicating ... is the best I’ve ever been around."

His message clearly resonated with the hitters this season as they turned into a prolific offense for much of the year.

"The goal with our staff is to make sure that we’re really consistent every day (with getting) these guys prepared to play every day," Kelly said about his approach.

According to Sharma and Mooney, "The Cubs typically wait until all the positions are filled and the hiring cycle is over before announcing the entire coaching staff," but that "Dustin Kelly will return as the lead hitting coach, according to sources familiar with the team’s planning for next season."

The hitting coach will have a ton of responsibility to get some of the young prospects Major League ready when they are eventually called-up over the upcoming years.

If this year was any indication of what the future holds, these exciting players are in good hands and could make an impact quickly.