The Yankees announced their full coaching staff on Tuesday evening, and it included a familiar name in former infielder Eric Chavez.
Chavez, a career .268 hitter with 260 home runs and a 115 OPS+, also was a Gold Glove winner during his 17-year career, two of those seasons coming with the Yankees in 2011 and 2012. So, even though Chavez is listed as an assistant hitting coach, Aaron Boone envisions Chavez helping in other areas outside the batter’s box.
“He’s someone that I’ve had interest in for awhile,” Boone told reporters on Wednesday. “I’ve known Chavy for a long time, and certainly has a really good reputation in this game…it’s kind of this role I had in my head. He had a great major league career, a prominent direction…has already worn some different hats post-career…and I’ve always heard good things about him.
“I’ve envisioned this role of having this guy that can grow in a role, and brings a presence to the coaching staff and to the room, and has a lot of things to offer.”
Chavez recently spent time in the Angels front office as an assistant to the general manager, but after speaking with him about the role, Boone was convinced Chavez would have an impact at the field level in the Yankee dugout.
“In a lot of ways, he blew me away,” Boone said. “He’s got a great perspective on the game, he’s very open minded, so where he’s part of the hitting crew, which he absolutely is, he’s gonna be more than that. I view him as a Swiss army knife where he’s gonna have a lot of different responsibilities. He’s gonna have his hand in a lot of different things. It’s a role that I feel is gonna evolve as he allows it to.”
The Yankees new hitting coach is Dillon Lawson, taking over for Marcus Thames after previously working as the team’s minor league hitting coordinator. His contributions to the organization’s overall success at the minor league level played a big part in landing him the job at the major league level, where the typically dynamic Yankee offense took a big step back in 2021.
“Dillon, he’s had a really strong impact on our minor leagues,” Boone said. “Taking over the hitting program from a player development standpoint and some of the things he’s incorporated. We saw this year it really take off post COVID season, where really across the board, all of our levels were really dynamic offensively.
“I feel like he’s had a really strong impact on not only our top prospect guys, but even some fringe guys. He’s really earned this opportunity based on the quality of work that we’ve seen from him, and the impact we’ve seen him have on hitters.”
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