The New York Yankees do not typically make changes to the coaching staff mid-season, so replacing hitting coach Dillon Lawson with former Cincinnati Reds slugger Sean Casey came as quite a surprise to many.
But the question still remains: can such a change really have enough of an impact to turn the season around?
“This is just a feeling [Brian Cashman] and I believe at this time where we are in the season – now the spring from start of second half on – that this was something we needed to do, in our opinion, to give us the best chance to turn the corner and be the team that we think we can be,” Yankees manage Aaron Boone told “Talkin’ Yanks” on Tuesday. “It doesn’t make us right. This isn’t about blaming or whatever. This is about us believing strongly that we at least needed a new voice at this time to reach out potential as a team.”
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The Yankees currently rank 29th in batting average, 29th in hits per game, 28th in double per game, 23rd in walks per game and 19th in runs per game — a far cry from the Bronx Bombers they hope to be.
Of course, the Yankees are missing Aaron Judge, who has been on the IL since June 2 with a torn ligament in his toe, but clearly a change was still needed in the view of Cashman and Boone.
“There’s many extenuating factors that go into why we have struggled a bit,” Boone said. “We’ve had a strong amount of injuries to some significant players at different times…that’s not always easy to overcome. There’s a lot of things that happened but at same time as we evaluate this…we felt strongly enough we needed to do this and.I feel like brining in Sean — I believe his ability to connect will serve us well in the immediate and can’t wait to see him spread his wings.”
Casey, a former teammate of Boone’s who came up with him in the minor leagues with the Cincinnati Reds, does not have any previous coaching experience.
But Boone has long had his eye on bringing Casey aboard and was finally able to make it happen this time around and believes he shares the same philosophy as the team and has the ability to tap into players’ strengths and weaknesses.
“I’ve known Sean for close to 30 years…I’ve always admired him from a hitting standpoint,” Boone said. “[He] was able to do it at a high level. Can talk it. Has a passion for it. One of the best people I know to be able to connect with people and tap into people. He was the guy at this time who has the best chance to connect with our players I think that’s really important and needed right now.
“As far as philosophy, we want to be the toughest, heaviest, grind you out team….tough at-bats. Not completely opposite from what we talk about, just want to enhance things. [I] think Sean’s skillset can connect on a different level with a lot of our guys and hopefully getting us moving in the right direction.”
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