Skip to content

Yankees' hitting, 3B coaches won't return in 2022

Tom Szczerbowski / Getty Images Sport / Getty

The New York Yankees have informed hitting coach Marcus Thames and third base coach Phil Nevin that their contracts won't be renewed for the 2022 season, according to Lindsey Adler of The Athletic.

Nevin, 50, joined the Yankees from the San Francisco Giants prior to the 2018 campaign. The former infielder somewhat infamously sent Aaron Judge home during the sixth inning of the AL wild-card game against the Boston Red Sox, resulting in Judge being thrown out by several feet.

Thames, 44, has been New York's hitting coach since the 2018 season. He was originally hired by the Yankees organization in 2013 to act as a hitting coach for High-A Tampa.

"They made a decision," Thames said, according to Brendan Kuty of NJ.com. "I just hate that we didn't win a championship. But they want to go in a different direction, and I guess I wasn't the voice that they thought to get us over the hump."

Assistant hitting coach P.J. Pilittere also won't return, sources told Adler. The Yankees drafted Pilittere in 2004, and he's been with the organization since, working his way up to assistant hitting coach for the 2018 season.

Despite having a lineup filled with star sluggers including Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, and DJ LeMahieu, the Yankees ranked seventh among AL teams by wRC+. The club added Joey Gallo and Anthony Rizzo prior to the trade deadline but fell short of a postseason run, losing to the Boston Red Sox in the AL wild-card game.

Manager Aaron Boone's contract is also set to expire following the conclusion of the World Series, though the Yankees haven't yet announced a decision on his future.

Daily Newsletter

Get the latest trending sports news daily in your inbox