The 2025 season for the Cincinnati Reds had its ups and its downs. The team made the playoffs, but they weren’t exactly good. Cincinnati finished the season strong, but still finished 83-79. And then they were swept in the playoffs as the franchise extended the longest streak in North American professional sports to 30 years without advancing in the playoffs.
Reds president of baseball operations Nick Krall told Mark Sheldon of Reds.com on Monday morning that Terry Francona and his entire coaching staff will be returning for the 2026 season.
That is certainly going to raise some questions and concerns around the fanbase, particularly when it comes to those in charge of the offense. Reds hitters didn’t exactly have a good season. No one hit for any power. Elly De La Cruz hit .264/.336/.440 and was easily the best player by OPS+ on the team when it comes to OPS+ and he was barely above-average. Among the returning players, no one really took a step forward except for Noelvi Marte. Multiple hitters took steps backwards.
It’s tough to make a good case that Chris Valaika did well as a hitting coach. The only good hitter on the team was a guy who got 103 at-bats and was acquired at the trade deadline – Miguel Andujar. The team had an OPS+ of 90, which is OPS but adjusted for the ballparks that a team plays in all year (home and road). That was 26th in baseball and only better than the Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Guardians, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Colorado Rockies.
On the flip side of that is Derek Johnson. The pitching staff as a whole was arguably the best in all of Major League Baseball. Cincinnati’s ERA+, which is a team’s ERA that’s adjusted to the ballparks that the team plays in all year, was 119. That was the best in Major League Baseball. That 119 ERA+ was the best by a Reds team since 2012 when they put up a league best 123 mark.
I give up.
That is a huge mistake. The hitting coaches stink. They have done a poor job in fixing hitting issues and that is why the Red’s batting averages were so pathetic. Hits win games. Shame on the Reds for not fixing this issue, and yes if you want more information from me just let me know because I am fed up with the lack of consistent hitting. So are all of the other people that sit near me at the games.
I think you and all your friends have an attitude problem. Chris Valaika would have worked out as a hitting coach if it wasn’t for you meddling kids! 😉
Seriously, the guy (Valaika) did not do a good job, and he was kind of hounded out of Cleveland when he was Francona’s hitting coach there (for a while).
There has to be somebody better at this, out there, in retired baseball land.
Paul O’Neil? Eric Davis? Bueller? Bueller?
Can someone teach batters 1-9 how to situationally bunt. We might be able to squeeze a runner in from third with no one out. I have never seen any team leave guys on third with nobody out. Sorry broken record here but that drove me crazy and they never changed their strategy.
The Yankees needed a hitting coach a couple years ago and took Sean Casey. Do you think if Paul wanted to be ahitting coach he wouldn’t have taken that job. Those guys like O’Neil and Davis who have made good money don’t want to spend their retirement back on the road again. Did you see Larkin broadcasting any road games this year?
This is a blatant example of why the Reds don’t/won’t improve next year.
Mr. ‘Status Quo’ Krall is the master of mediocrity, hand chosen spear carrier for the Reds’ incompetent and complacent owners’ group.
Yawn. And unfortunately Tito seems to fit right in, despite past achievements.
Agreed. The Reds have plenty of talent/raw material but have failed miserably to develop that to a major league level. So many times they would have the bases loaded with no outs and were unable to even put the ball into play. I would settle for a DP if we could just score. EVERY starter in the lineup had a month long slump where they couldn’t hit their weight. No adjustments. No changes. I have NEVER seen that before. Every single player was a disappointment offensively with the exception of Sal’s sort sample. They even managed to make EDLC boring in the batter’s box.Robin
It’s not the hitting coach. It’s the hitters. Fire Nick Krall.
Both things can be true.
Both can be true, but how do you separate what is the coach’s fault from the hitters’?
Cost. The hitting coach probably makes less than a million bucks. The hitters on the team make tens of millions combined.
But you could also just point to how the entire team did compared to how they’ve done in the past and when nearly everyone was worse….. you’ve got a solid amount of evidence that it’s not the player(s) when it’s happening to everyone.
I think we’re mostly talking about EDLC, McLain, Steer and Stephenson, aren’t we? It may well be that Valaika was a negative influence or simply not enough of a positive one, but the evidence of decline has to include the injuries as a factor.
I agree Klugo. I couldn’t care less if the Reds fired Valaika or not. But, I do think it’s foolish to believe the Red’s offensive problems will be solved by hiring a different hitting coach.
Conversely would Johnson’s numbers have been as good if half the staff (Greene, Lodolo, Singer, Burns) were not first round draft picks.
Most teams are made up of a lot of 1st round picks.
Personally, I think neither is the real problem and it’s Tito’s hitting philosophy that truly stinks. Of course, ultimately Krall is his boss, and the hitting coach just follows orders, but if the manager’s philosophy is outdated, the replacements for both the guys you mentioned will do no better.
I think Tito is protecting Valaika. If year 2 is similar to year 1 then he has to be gone, right?
I think it is the hitting coach, when aside from Marte, everyone else took steps backwards this year?
I think it is on Tito, to not sit folks who are struggling.
Maybe ECLC, TySteve, McClain, Steer would listen to longer term deals now? Maybe a good time to lock them in, preferably in that order.
Hitters taking a step back is frequently mentioned because it’s true. But most of the hitters we mention in this regard were dealing with injuries that could certainly account for diminished production. Supposedly, Valaika’s theory is opposite field hitting, and when the Reds did that, it seemed to go pretty well. Why they didn’t stick with it is a mystery, but may have to do with the way they were being pitched.
+1000
I may be wrong, but I think Marte hit about .200 the last month or so.
I don’t see a problem with the coaching staff. Hitting coaches are an easy target. Players are control of their own strike zone judgement. Hitting coaches simply preach the philosophy and work with the hitters on a daily basis.
McLain, Stephenson, EDLC, CES, simply do not know how to control the strike zone. They all swing at sliders thrown to the outer half of the plate and then let fastballs sail past them. Joey Votto had 1 of history’s best strike zone knowledge / but I’m not sure it can be taught. Hitting a baseball in 2025 is extremely hard.
Chris Valaika can’t make chicken out of you know what.
On flip side, I was very encouraged by the development of relief pitching. Santillan, Barlow, Philips, and ashcraft all performed admirably. This was unexpected imo. And the starting pitching – which most on here expected good things- obviously did very well.
We need better hitters from outside the organization, plain and simple.
McLain Stephenson……..wasn’t he on M.A.S.H.????
Lt Col Henry Blake
Loved colonel Blake. For the record, it was McLean Stephenson. When he and Larry Linville left, MASH went kaput for me.
Col Blake loved his Illini. MASH at its best had Trapper Col Blake and Frank. The rest is tired Jamie Farr jokes.
But McClain and Stephenson didn’t M.A.S.H. anything! 🙂
Does the hitting coaching really happen at the big league level or does it happen in the minors? With all the big league hitting coaches over the years, the minor league instructors have stayed the same . Is there any way they can all be on the same page?
“Hitting coaches are an easy target.”
Yes, It’s just like Training in the corporate world. Every time an employee screws up managers look to training to solve the problem. More often than not it was the hiring manager who dropped the ball.
That’s disappointing.
I remember there were a lot of reservations when Valaika was brought in as the hitting coach. I must say, those reservations proved to be correct, as it seems like pretty much the whole team regressed as hitters.
If it was just one or two players, ok, you can maybe say that’s on the players. But when it’s the whole team, I think that’s when it’s time to look at the coaches.
Really no way to sugarcoat it. This is a huge mistake.
I wasn’t thrilled with the hiring of Valaika. In contrast to DJ’s leadership of organizational pitching, the Reds have struggled to find the right leader for their hitting program. That said, changing out leaders every year is a recipe for disaster, but I understand others’ frustration with Valaika’s first-year results.
One thought that has continued with me throughout the year is this roster may not have enough hitters to match the approach emphasized by both Francona and Valaika, of higher contact/lower power.
Friedl seemed to do very well in both approach and the role he was assigned. But did others? Elly might have, to some degree, impressing with better contact ie going to the opposite field more and striking out less. Still, given his leg injuries apparently sapping his power, we just don’t know.
It’s hard to see who else might have hit better in this system snd, if they did, was it due to the system/approach or just because they were hitting well, ie Marte. I’d be interested in comparisons among hitters pre-Valaika and with him. But that’s a project.
And I forgot my original point! That, this offseason we should seek hitters that can do well in this approach. So some roster turnover, as long as we have this coaching staff.
Good points!
I’ve just never understood the concept that someone who failed at dong something is qualified to instruct other on how to succeed. If the goal is to get hitters to hit like CV, we’ll it’s working.
Charley Lau and Walt Hriniak, two of the most famous hitting coaches combined only had just over 300 ML hits between them with a batting average of .254.
There’s outliers in almost anything in life, it doesn’t mean that the concept is a good one. If I have 13 salesmen and I need a manager from the group, I don’t think it’s a good plan to have your 11 th best or 3rd worst to instruct on how to sell. Generally speaking, it seems like a losing concept.
Teaching is particular skill, and being able to analyze hitting technique and communicate it effectively probably doesn’t require a teacher who was, himself, a great hitter. It might even be the case that superstars, owing some of their greatness to physical gifts uncommon even among MLB players, have a hard time teaching players who are less gifted than they were. I’m pretty sure I remember hearing this about Ted Williams. The Splinter did some teaching when he retired, but it was by invitation to guys like Brett, Mattingly, and Wade Boggs.
You are underestimating how hard it is for a baseball player to make it to the major leagues. An individual who hits well enough to have a ten-year professional career, including 250+ plate appearances at the highest level, is not a failed hitter. For context, Valaika, in our country, is about a one in two to three hundred thousand hitter.
I get that the pool of former major league hitters isn’t deep. I get that some of the better former hitters may not want the job or may be an addict or just unreliable. That’s why they call it a hiring process. All I’m saying is that a guy that probably has a negative WAR as a career hitter probably isn’t going to be a great instructor. His concepts seem to speak for themselves. It’s translating into CV level results. Most of the hitters are headed in the wrong direction. At some point, you change the concepts. It is also agreeable that talent does play a huge role but this combination isn’t translating to an acceptable level if you want a winning culture.
This was a lazy hire. He was recently with Tito and is a former Red. That’s not in any way bringing in the best guy available. Nepotism is huge with Cincinnati teams and it’s not a winning formula.
I think you are definitely right about the hire itself – it’s lazy and was made based entirely on Terry Francona having worked with him before (as well as the incredible nepotism thing about this franchise).
But I think the days of seeing good hitters turn into hitting coaches are probably gone. When players didn’t make truly life changing money it made sense that some really good hitters kept on working in baseball as coaches. Now when solid but not great hitters bank $100,000,000 for their careers why would they keep going on the grind of a baseball season? Most of the time they aren’t going straight into a big league hitting coach role, either. They start in the minor leagues where they are making less money per year than some of the people posting comments on Redleg Nation.
You pivoto a different line of reasoning. Yes, it was a lazy hire.
Check the list of current MLB hitting coaches. The Reds are far from being the only team without a former star hitter in that position.
Nepotism typically refers to hiring family or close friends and likely doesn’t correctly apply to Valaika. Hiring someone you’ve worked with previously doesn’t really fit the definition on its own. As I recall, Francona only hired two coaches with whom he had previously worked, Valaika and Brad Mills. I was more critical of Valaika’s hire because he didn’t have a lot of success in Cleveland.
Aside from Phil Castellini and Dick Williams, who are good examples of nepotism, most of the criticism towards the Reds is better characterized as a trend of favoring internal promotions over external hires. Nepotism is frowned upon in the business world as a questionable practice from an ethics perspective.
I don’t think the Red’s trend of internal hires would be widely questioned if the franchise were more successful. However, with the poor track record, one would expect the team to consider internal and external applicants whenever practical. The Reds did this with Francona, but it is something they should do more of.
Arguably the best pitching coach in the history of the game was not even a pitcher.
What about the top 100 pitching coaches? Outliers is a thing. Sometimes the talent carries itself. Major league coaches should fine tune talent that already has established fundamentals from the farm system. Farm systems are so underrated in baseball. Good organizations have the bulk of their players coached up early. Cheap teams like the Reds skimp on talent when it comes to players and coaching. They prioritize nepotism and cheapness first. Sure they hired Tito for optics, in desperation and then just adjusted their player spending down to cover that
This would eliminate practically every hitting coach of all professional baseball.
Which is why it reinforces the concept that the hitting coach is someone who preaches philosophy and develops a workout plan for each player. If the player can’t recognize a slider from a fastball in a fraction of a second they will not succeed at Major League Baseball. Likewise, if they can’t tell where the edge of the strike zone is, they won’t succeed against mlb pitchers.
Reds just do not have enough above average hitters. McLain, Be son, Steer, CES and Stephenson just don’t understand the strike zone enough to grant them a pass anymore. Rest of the Central division is producing players that do understand the strike zone and we are getting lapped.
Meh. Somebody was voice teacher to talents like Luciano Pavarotti and Patsy Cline, and I promise you that whoever they were, they were not nearly as accomplished as their pupils.
Joey Votto never had a hitting coach who could hit better than him, but he still appreciated their help.
It isn’t like Valaika is “someone who failed at hitting.” He did make the major leagues, which is far from being a “failure.” And I am far, far from being a Valaika fan.
Run it back. It’s a Cincinnati tradition unlike any others.
I’ll live with it. I question Valaika, as everyone here does. But he’s a former Red and worked in Cleveland. He’s not going anywhere quickly. Reds’ hitters had some bad habits to break. Whether he’s the guy to do it remains to be seen. OTH, the Reds should fire the entire FO and bring in someone to review the entire baseball operation, including player development.
“bring in someone to review the entire baseball operation, including player development.”
This! A thousand times This!
LDS cuts to the chase again.
Completely agree with the need to evaluate Krall and the program he is implementing. More importantly, Krall should not evaluate Krall.
That’s not a dig on Krall’s ethics, etc. It is a recognition that his program of being oriented to pitching, defense and contact hitting was not a good match vs teams with powerful offenses (and not just the Dodgers though it was painfully obvious).
The Yankees, Dodgers, Brewers, Blue Jays, Cubs, Red Sox, Mariners, D-Backs and Phillies, for instance, were potent offenses. They are also teams we have to go through to advance in the playoffs. Our record vs them was 29-34 by my count. That more often than not comes to playoff defeats.
The Reds have a need to determine if this particular plan is working.
That does not mean give Francona his next two years to see if he can lead this group further.
It means to evaluate the plan now in order to best provide him with what the team needs to advance.
Nick Krall has been GM of the Reds since 2018 and, in his eighth year, is now the head of baseball operations. He has centered the Reds on pitching along with analytics, the minor league system, and now a stable coaching staff. The Reds historically have usually been an offensive club. I do not see the emphasis on pitching as a challenge to offensive clubs like the Brewers and Cubs. The Reds are not taking advantage of the field where they play half their games. As long as this remains the direction, I don’t see the Reds as a top competitive team.
Aside from pointing out that the Brewers are not built on power, I’m not sure that we have much evidence that power is the main ingredient in a championship team, since most of these teams also have good pitching and defense. This points to the money again: Assuming that Krall has a limited budget, it’s likely that he’s hoping to generate most of the pitching talent and power hitting from within the organization. It seems to be working with the pitching, but the power hasn’t really established itself yet. Acquiring power hitters via trade or free agency is expensive and paying them is as well.
“OTH, the Reds should fire the entire FO and bring in someone to review the entire baseball operation, including player development.”
100%
Charley Lau and Walt Hriniak, two of the most famous hitting coaches combined only had just over 300 ML hits between them with a batting average of .254.
I can say that again.
Watch the Dodgers, Brewers, Cubs hit. The defend against good borderline pitches then attack when the pitcher makes a mistake over the plate. Their at bats go deep which increases their chances of see a pitch poorly located. They don’t swing at balls off the plate.
I believe valaika’s philosophy was more contact less power for EDLC and EDLC bought in. So technically Valaika was successful, but he neutered EDLC by shortening his swing and reducing his launch angle
May be it was just me, but I saw a change in his plate approach about the time they moved him down.bigger swings and more balls in the air. He helps us more as a power guy than a contact hitter.
EDLC was almost certainly “neutered,” at least in part, by season-long leg injuries.
This. Elly needs to improve but he is a star and will get back to being one with an off season of healing.
And what was the other part?
The suggestion was that the other part was the approach that Valaika supposedly encouraged him to use.
@SR, you’re absolutely correct! I’d throw the Phillies into that list too but the Brewers are a shining example. They avoid the pitches off the plate and have professional at bats. The Brewers are a similar payroll and not loaded with big money talent but they hit fundamentally well and do it consistently. If you watch the games we play them this is plainly obvious. The Brewers are able to get runners on base and get them in. The Reds struggle mightily.
It was obvious what Valaika was working on with Elly. Leg issues or not Elly absolutely was strong enough, especially at GABP, to muscle out some home runs but with the swing angle change that just didn’t happen. Elly also did himself zero favors by playing every game if he was hurt. Furthermore Francona should have made him sit if that was the case.
I’ve never hit a home run in a major league park, Jason, but I do know that much more power is generated from the legs than from the arms. Elly did hit some home runs, so you’re obviously right that that he could do it on occasion, but I imagine that a possible calculation would have been that if he tried to do that consistently, he would also hit lots of fly balls that would negate the advantage of his speed–still formidable even though diminished–in a way that ground balls would not.
Hitting comparison stats out of ALL teams:
BABIP: MIL .307, 0298 CIN, 0283 CHC
Baserunning above average: MIL 14.5 (1st), CIN 6.2 (3rd), CHC 2.5
Walk to strikeout ratio: MIL 2nd, Cubs 5th, Reds 16th
Batting and baserunning combined: CHC 6th, MIL 9th, CIN 23.
Ground ball %: MIL 6th, CIN 12th, Cubs 30th
Pull %: Cubs 1st, Reds 4th, MIL 29th.
Overall $ value from WAR generated (in millions): Cubs $248mil, MIL $225mil, CIN $105
Pretty crazy how wildly different the Cubs and Brewers are offensively yet achieve similar results. It would seem the Cubs got a tad more than they paid for, the Brewers got DOUBLE what they paid for, and the Reds got way less. That to me would certainly point to coaching as a contributing factor…..and unshackling the running game could incrementally improve the offense.
This is me being a devil’s advocate, Sultan, but it could point instead to poor decisions in the acquisition of the players, couldn’t it?
And I agree about reinstating the running game.
There were a lot of people post 2024 that said the Reds running game was “reckless” and caused a lot of outs.
This year, ran a lot less and…SURPRISE!!! the Reds scored fewer runs.
We wonder if Hays, Hayes and Andular (and Benson, and Steer) are coming back.
Regardless of how they “underperformed” expectations, they did supply hits, runs, RBI’s and HR. This will all have to be replaced (and upgraded!) from 2025.
Sal Stewart might be the new 1st baseman, and supply some of this (over 162 games). Matt McLain MIGHT be better in 2026.
I don’t think Ke’Bryan Hayes is the answer at 3rd base, unless the rest of the team is a LOT better offensively. They cannot afford that dead spot in the lineup.
I don’t know what Valaika teaches, but the team MOSTLY regressed offensively from 2024 (among those who played in 2024 and 2025, looking at EDLC in particular). I don’t get to stand around the batting cage, or stay after hours to see how players are practicing, etc.
Steer might have been struggling with a shoulder issue, we don’t really know for sure.
Stephenson and Friedl, in particular, seem to have also regressed.
I don’t have answers to questions here. Just like others, pointing out some things that are happening. Where is all the additional team OPS going to come from?
David, the Reds were reckless last year in base running. Less so this year. The issue was the run on contact play with runners on third in 2024. I don’t know how many runners were thrown out at home. When you get thrown out without not even sliding that is an issue. In addition early in 2024 Reds had a regional broadcast game on Fox. Had three runners thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double. Color guy on Fox said he thought the Reds would have learned after the first. Now I do agree the regular steal attempts were tamped down. But seem to be late in the year they ran more.
This is a classic case of confusing coincidence with causality.
I don’t miss the TOOTBLANs any more than I miss the poor defense at third base.
The Reds scoring problems weren’t due to not getting runners to 2b or 3b, but the collective weakness at driving them in.
More steals might likely have led to more runners left in scoring position.
I think If the Reds’ FO made decisions based on this season’s hitting statistics, they should have fired the hitting coaching staff. But , obviously, there are another factors involved there and Tito’s thinking is an important one to keep it in…
It’s a little disappointing when we hope a change after a really frustrating Reds offense season only realize nothing was done…
At least the pitching staff will be back next year…There is a lot of work to do with Burns and Lowder as rookies aside Williamson and Aguiar coming from TJ surgeries
I expected a change in Hitting Coach. I now expect a slugger for the DH position.
Bring back the entire coaching staff??? WHY? What could this be based on? We want more of the same rudderless suck? We want more players and trades like Ke’Bryan Hayes? We want the rest of the position players to keep regressing? We don’t hit for average. We don’t hit for power. We don’t even try to steal bases anymore. We are not even a good defensive team. Tito is no longer a great manager. Our players don’t even know what position they play anymore. Why is Sal Stewart riding the bench? What position does he play? Is Gavin Lux an outfielder and is he worth trading Sirota for? Why didn’t Andujar play more?
There is plenty more to be puzzled about and my optimism for next year has cratered.
All things considered, I wonder if Gavin Lux is coming back to the Reds? He is not particularly a good 2nd baseman (fielding) and no gazelle in the outfield.
Only time will tell if Mike Sirota becomes a good ML player…and he might or might not, still played only at High A this season.
Even though the Reds “made it” to the playoffs (well, the Mets collapsed!), there need to be a few major changes. My thinking is that there won’t be, because Ownership will not pay a lot of money for one, big impact free agent or trade prospects for an impact player.
2026 may look a lot like 2025, with about 81-85 victories….running in place.
… What did people expect? Its Business as usual at GABP, just like it is at Paycor.
Nepotism. Loyalty. Results don’t matter until things are terrible for multiple seasons.
Was it ever confirmed that HG was tipping his pitches in the playoffs? I thought I heard that was the case for a couple mid-season starts also. IF this is true why did the opponent figure this out and not our coaches?
Not that I’ve seen, but the Athletic ran an article today that implied improved technology is helping some teams better identify when pitchers are tipping their pitches. I suppose a few teams may have developed a pretty good advantage via technology-based scouting.
I think in the Reds Minds, they may see themselves as the Cubs of last year with Craig counsel who went 83 and 79 and then this year won over 90 games.
Cubs also brought in Tucker and had a World Series winning SS Swanson on their team too I think for high level leadership.
Not sure I see the Reds making that jump in 2026 right now.
I wonder in the long run will this eking into the playoffs mainly because of the Mets collapse…will it have been a good thing? Or will it give them a false sense of thinking they are really on the uptick when maybe they really weren’t. Not necessarily trying to diminish the experience they got making the playoffs and beating out the Mets, but that is a rare occurrence to make a playoffs at 83 wins.
2026 I think will be pretty telling in that regard. I think 84 wins or less next year even if they were fortunate enough to get the last playoff spot would show they’re spinning their wheels.
A few moves could really make the difference in a 83 win team vs. maybe a 90 win team.
Reds have a .500 roster right now, counting free agents. They need some big moves to get to 90 W level.
The 9-man lineup is barely league average (OPS+ 100).
1B Stewart 2B McLean SS Elly 3B Hayes C Stephenson/Trevino LF Lux/Hays CF Friedl RF Marte DH Andujar.
Don Long was the best hitting coach of this group listed below. 2017 was a very good offensive year, 2018 was good as well. Long moved to Balty, Reds bring in Turner Ward and launch angles. That created our obsession with Will Benson
Reds have had 10 main hitting coaches since 2001:
Ken Griffey Sr
Jim Lefebvre
Tom Robson
Chris Chambliss
Brook Jacoby
Don Long
Turner Ward
Alan Zinter
Joe McKethan
Chris Valaika
Reds drafted two of them as prospects in MLB draft many years ago. Griffey is one. Dou you know the other?
Tough to say who you are talking about because the Reds drafted Griffey, Chambliss, Long, and Valaika. “Many years ago” doesn’t do much to help because even Valaika was drafted 20 years ago…. which is certainly “many”.
“many” years is a concept that changes significantly with age. 20 years is yesterday to me.
Many isn’t 20 to me. Many is 50 or more to me.
Griffey and Chambliss were drafted many years ago by the Reds.
It seems a former star hitter could be hired as a “hitting director” who is not necessarily required to travel. He should be able to let his minions, the “hitting staff”, implement his methods when the team is on the road. I vote for Larkin to fill that role. He was always hitting the other way and often calls for it during broadcasts. Having him out of the booth would improve the broadcasts also. Two birds with one stone. I get the impression many times from Larkin that Eric Davis is traveling among the minor leagues as a hitting troubleshooter. Maybe his role can be expanded if he is good at it. Apparently, he was instrumental in getting Benson to lower his hands.
Does Tito have a successful track record? Yes, clearly.
Does DJ have a successful track record? Yes, building one.
Does Krall have a successful track record? Yes, also building one while balancing the checkbook.
Does Valaika have a successful track record? Crickets.
How long of a leash does he get, and why?
I don’t understand why they only have 1 hitting coach. I don’t see where Kyle Schwarber and Gavin Lux have much in common as hitters, and I therefore don’t see why hiring a second guy to mentor power hitters should be a problem.
Let each hitter work out which coach they want to work with primarily. It isn’t like the two of them can’t collaborate on most of the hitters.
For most of the Reds this season, the hitters forgot Ted Williams’s first rule of hitting: “Get a good pitch to hit.” (Matt McLain pretty much didn’t swing at a good pitch all season.)
Hitting coaches should bring a philosophy to camp and, after evaluating talent, look to see how that can improve outcomes. It strikes me as odd that a coach can dogmatically by-god not make adjustments to his own approach, expecting the hitters to adapt. Nobody is right all the time and it’s OK to change your opinion. If you do that in regular life, you should expect coaches to do that. It’s easier to replace a coach than find a roster that conforms to his philosophy.