Mets Are Interested In Hiring Former Cubs Hitting Coach

The New York Mets are making changes in their coaching staff, and they’re interesting in having John Mallee be part of the mix. He’s been added to the list of coaching staff interviews, and according to Anthony DiComo of MLB.com, he’s joining a list that also included former New York Yankees hitting coach, with the repot on Long coming from the New York Post earlier in the week. 

Mallee definitely has the experience to handle any kind of hitting-related role. He’s served as hitting coach for the Houston Astros, Chiccago Cubs and Philadelphia PHiles, and he recently returned to Chicago to work under Dustin Kelly. 

His claim to fame as a hitting coach is the relationship he developed with Pete Crow-Armstrong, who was a below-average hitter when Mallee worked with him, per DiComo. Now Crow Armstrong is poised to win the MVP award in a year in which he led the National Leauge with 45 home runs, 119 runs scored and an OPS of.942. 

Working under the combination of Mallee and Kelly, the the Cubs led the Majors in runs (850), slugging (.428) and OPS (.767).

The Mets struggled with their offense this year, as they were tied for 20th in the leauge in runs scored with 699. They fired director of hitting Jeff Albert after the season, but the Mets also retained hitting coach Troy Snitker and his assistant, Rafael Fernandez. T

The Mets go into this search unsure of whether they want to hire a new hitting director or another assistant to work under Snitker, so this is the kind of open-ended search that’s typical of the Mets. The Mets have also fired quality assurance coach Danny Barnes and batting practice pitcher Kevin Mahoney. 

New York’s biggest problem was injuries to superstars Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor, with both spending extensive time on the IL due to calf injuries. Soto had a decent season that reflected his lofty standards with allowances for the time he missed, but Lindor had a poor offensive season, although he did manage to get his 300th career home run on the final day of the season. 

The Mets also had plenty of issues with lineup holes, as Marcus Semien barely produced at all offensively, and they were constantly plugging in veteran retreads with Soto and Lindor out. The team has the potential to be a good offensive club, but it will take far more than just shuffling coaches to get the Mets there.