The New York Yankees finalized their coaching staff this past week, finally filling the holes left after the firings of Kevin Long and Mick Kelleher three months ago.
Hitting coach Jeff Pentland, infield coach Joe Espada, assistant hitting coach Alan Cockrell all were added to the staff. In other moves, Rob Thomson was shifted from third-base coach to bench coach, Tony Pena moved from bench coach to first-base coach, and Espada will function as the team's third-base coach.
In the case of Pentland, the longtime MLB hitting coach know it's up to him to build relationships with the team's hitters as soon as possible.
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It’s my job to earn (the hitters') trust and be there for them and develop them as they need,” Pentland said in an introductory conference call. “I’m working off the individual. I don’t have a general philosophy. I think I have the knowledge, otherwise I wouldn’t be here.”
The Yankees will carry two hitting coaches for the first time in franchise history, but Pentland sees that as a natural evolution of the position.
"The job has just gotten huge," Pentland said. "The technical ability of video and TVs and statistics, it’s just become overwhelming. As hitting coaches, we have to weed out information to give the hitters a simple approach. When you’re sitting in there against 95 (mph), your brain can’t do a whole lot. It kind of has to be focused on the ball."
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