The future of the position has already been shaped in places like St. Louis where for years the Cardinals have listed an associate hitting coach to go along with their primary batting coach. Other teams have copied the concept without handing out an official title, but if Jays’ manager John Farrell had his way, the Jays in 2013, would keep AAA-Las Vegas hitting coach Chad Mottola at the major league level to work with Dwayne Murphy on a daily basis . . . even if it helped one major-league hitter.
“We’ve talked about it internally,” Farrell admitted. “We’ve talked about how the structure would work. The fact, if this were to play out, the people involved (Murphy and Mottola) have a rapport, they have a relationship already from the major leagues to the Triple-A staff, spring training and the familiarity with one another. That’s paramount, because the message can’t be conflicting and yet everybody has individual strengths and in some cases, they complement one another.”
Every team in September has the ability to add one coach to the major-league staff. For the second consecutive year Mottola has been called up to help out Jays’ hitters in the final month. In 2011 he was in uniform during games. This year, the extra coach in uniform is Luis Rivera, but Mottola works pre-game on the field and in the cages with Murphy and the larger number of players.
There have been special projects that the organization has sent down to Vegas, guys that have worked daily down there with Mottola to build themselves back up to the point they can successfully return to the majors. Guys like Adam Lind, Travis Snider, Eric Thames and Anthony Gose. Mottola explains he’s not a miracle worker, even though some of the improvements have been dramatic.
Which is the majors. In fact, Mottola believes it’s much easier to make your point, to teach young hitters only after they have failed at the next level and realize that they do need your help.
“Absolutely, that’s when they kind of light up and I can say, ‘See, I told you so,’ ” Mottola said. “We get a few laughs out of the way then it’s let’s get to work. You see the guy’s hunger a lot more and the drive is a lot more after he’s failed and humbled a little bit.”
Farrell sees an additional view not as an intrusion on the batting coach’s territory, but instead likens it to the situation with the bullpen and pitching coaches on the other end of the spectrum.
Mottola spoke, for example, about Gose who has been up and down twice, returning from Vegas this time looking like a new hitter, with more contact, more line drives and even one homer.
Any decision to promote Mottola may depend on the makeup of the coaching staff this off-season, whether any of the current coaches get managerial opportunities or if they can petition MLB for the right to carry one more body on the coaching staff. Either way the time is at hand and it’s a concept that Farrell has embraced. If and when it happens, Mottola knows he is ready to help.
http://www.thestar.com/sports/baseball/ ... ting-coach
Thoughts? Howarth said he was responsible for Gose's recent batting success. Apparently they worked on a new stance but Gose found it uncomfortable and was called up to the majors four days later so he abandoned it. When he got sent back down he fully committed himself to it and has been a much better hitter on his return as a result.
