Mets Hire Troy Snitker, Son Of Former Atlanta Manager, As Second Hitting Coach

The New York Mets continued their offseason overhaul of their coaching staff by filling their second hitting coach position, hiring Troy Snitker, the son of former Atlanta Braves manager Brian Snitker. 

At 36, Snitker is one of the youngest coaches in MLB, having already served for seven years as the hitting coach of the Houston Astros. Brian Snitker stepped down from his position as Braves manager at the end of this season. 

Troy Snitker will work under the direction of Jeff Albert, who was recently promoted from his role as the director of hitting development to director of major league hitting, according to a story written by Jorge Castillo of ESPN. Albert will be in uniform this season, according to earlier reports. 

The structure will be different this year, however. The Mets let go both of their former hitting coaches, former Oakland A’s star Eric Chavez and Jeremy Barnes, who served together as co-coaches. Chavez, whose focus was on handling the typical ups and downs of Mets hitters and keeping them on track, said after the season that the team needed to have a single voice. Barnes was analytics-oriented, and he focused primarily on swing development. 

The Mets were able to score runs this year, finishing tenth in the majors in that department, but they also had stretches of inconsistency that played into their second-half collapse. The hope is that having a direct line of authority from Albert to Snitker will eliminate whatever confusion occurred and improve the day-to-day offensive production. 

This coaching moves comes on the heels of another hire, with the Mets adding Kai Correa as bench coach to replace John Gibbons and work with manager Carols Mendoza, who survived the purge. Correa’s specialty is improving the defense of individual infielders, and the Mets still have several coaching openings to fill. 

The Mets have yet to address the roster puzzle, however. First baseman Pete Alonso has already opted out of the second year of his two-year deal, and he's now a free agent. Closer Edwin Diaz is also expected to opt out to test the market. 

While the Mets core might be shifting, their two stars aren’t going anywhere. Outfielder Juan Soto and shortstop Francisco Lindor are still the foundation, although Lindor recently had successful minor surgery to clean up some issues with floating bodies in his right elbow. Lindor is right-handed, of course, but the Mets were seemingly unaware that the surgery would take place.