Pittsburgh Pirates fans got one of their offseason wishes granted when the club let hitting coach Jeff Branson go, along with his assistant Jeff Livesey. As Rob Biertempfel of the Athletic noted, the superficial reasons why this move painted a vivid picture of mediocrity:
#Pirates team batting average this year: .254
NL average: .247
Pirates OPS: .725
NL avg: .721
Pirates home runs: 157
NL avg: 179
Pirates total bases: 2,218
NL avg: 2,221
Pirates slug: .407
NL avg: .403
Decision to fire coaches may have been based on individual player cases.