Yankees hitting coach makes decision on 2024 season

Yankees hitting coach Sean Casey will not be returning for the 2024 season due to family reasons, as he himself announced on his podcast. Joel Sherman of The New York Post was among those to relay the news. “I’m not gonna be able to come back next year,” Casey said, per Chris Kirschner of The Athletic, “because I have my two daughters at home. I think getting divorced a few years ago — I have those girls 50 percent of the time. I just can’t imagine being away for 8 months.” He also said, per Greg Joyce of The New York Post, “There was no offer made, but I do think I could have come back had I wanted to. That time right now is not perfect for me. We’ll see what happens in the next few years here.”

The Yankees began 2023 with Dillon Lawson as their hitting coach and struggled offensively, producing a team-wide batting line of .227/.304/.397 for the year. That amounts to a wRC+ of 94, indicating they were 6% worse than league average. It’s always tough to figure out how much credit or blame should go to a hitting coach or the players themselves. The 2023 Yankees had one of the best hitters in the world in Aaron Judge but also gave plenty of plate appearances to less-heralded journeymen like Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Jake Bauers, Willie Calhoun and Billy McKinney, as well as rookies like Anthony Volpe.

Whether Lawson had any hand in those struggles is difficult to tell but Yanks evidently felt a change was necessary, as Lawson was fired in July and replaced by Casey. The team had a wRC+ of 96 prior to that move and a 92 wRC+ after, but again, it’s tough to reach conclusions about the impact of the hitting coach in such numbers. The Yankees faded from contention and gave a lot of their late-season playing time to unproven younger players.

The Yankees will now have to find a new hitting coach for the 2024 season. As for Casey, it seems he is leaving the door open for future coaching gigs as his family situation evolves. He played in the big leagues from 1997 to 2008 but his stint with the Yankees this year was his first coaching job.