ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The group of Red Sox coaches who were let go by the team in April is gone, but not forgotten. Particularly when the Rays are in view.
Two months after Pete Fatse was dismissed as the Red Sox's hitting coach, he was put in touch with Tampa Bay front-office executive (and former Rangers general manager) Jon Daniels about joining the Rays' hitting group. It didn't take long for both the team and the coach to realize it might be a good fit, with Tampa Bay agreeing to bring Fatse on as a hitting consultant for the club's baseball research and development department.
While Fatse isn't with the Rays on a consistent basis, he does spend some time around the American League East leaders. When Tampa Bay came to Fenway Park in July, he paid a visit while spending time in St. Petersburg with his new team in the series prior to the Red Sox's arrival.
"Just someone that has a reputation of being curious, hardworking," said Rays president of baseball Erik Neander regarding the hiring of Fatse. "Just someone we thought had a chance to get better with, and we could learn from. It's been mutually beneficial. He was in the office this past week, spending some time. We have a lot of people who have been here a long time, and we pride ourselves on the continuity, as long as it doesn't turn into complacency. But to get some fresh thoughts, ideas, and certainly in a space like hitting that seems harder and harder every single day, it was just a chance for us to get better and for him to get better."
"I'm very thankful to Erik, JD and others for the opportunity to learn and collaborate with a highly regarded baseball operations department," Fatse said in a text to WEEI.com.
While the Rays have been known for their pitching program throughout the years, their hitting group has also distinguished itself in 2026. Tampa Bay has the highest team batting average in baseball, the seventh-best OPS, and has struck out the fewest times of any club.
Fatse was originally hired by the Red Sox as an assistant hitting coach following the 2019 season before being promoted to hitting coach heading into the 2022 campaign.
"It's just trying to get better, and I think the hitting space, especially, there's a lot of people that are very passionate about their philosophy, their beliefs when it comes to hitting," Neander said. "And who are we to be too judgmental on that? If someone's so passionate about something, there's got to be some good in there somewhere. It's on us to find it. And Pete's got a lot of good."
