Now that the 2022 season is over for the New York Mets, we will spend the next several weeks taking a look at the big picture. This deep dive will be broken down into phases every weekday, continuing today with a look at the Mets’ coaching staff.
The New York Mets began the 2022 season with pretty much an entirely new coaching staff, which made sense after the flop of 2021. Buck Showalter took over for Luis Rojas in the dugout and overhauled most of the remaining staff, retaining only Jeremy Hefner as the pitching coach. The results paid off with a 101-win season, but let’s take a look at how each coaching group performed individually.
Manager
Showalter brought exactly what the Mets needed to the dugout in the form of credibility and a winning pedigree. The Mets became an excellent fundamental team that took advantage of the rules to gain any advantage possible. The team also benefitted from Showalter’s calming presence in the dugout as he navigated potential land mines that would have created clubhouse distractions with ease. There were some potential issues with Showalter’s bullpen management down the stretch and his hesitance to give rookies a shot but he is still the architect of the second-most regular season wins in a single season.
Pitching/Bullpen Coaches
Hefner came back for a second season and he had a strong impact on the pitching staff, which was a strength of the team for most of the season. Craig Bjornson was a newcomer as the bullpen coach and he did a good job working with a ton of relievers to manage the unit quite effectively. The biggest success these two had was with Edwin Diaz, who put together his best season as a Met to become the best closer in baseball.
Hitting Coach
One of Showalter’s top picks for his new staff was former big leaguer Eric Chavez, who took over for Hugh Quattlebaum as the hitting coach. While Quattlebaum overwhelmed his players with analytics and approaches, Chavez simplified things with an emphasis on generating more contact and working pitchers. Chavez’s approach led the Mets to score the fifth most runs in baseball but it didn’t make up for the fact that they were short on power when they needed it most.
Bench Coach
Glenn Sherlock returned to the organization as Showalter’s bench coach and seemed to work well in that capacity. The Mets did lose the only games Showalter missed due to a suspension and a medical procedure but two games is not a fair sample size to blame Sherlock for.
Base Coaches
Wayne Kirby was popular with the team as the first base coach but the headliner here is third base coach Joey Cora, who was extremely aggressive with his sends. Cora’s reads did help the Mets become more efficient on the bases than they were in 2021 but it did cost them some runs at times. The end results were more positive than negative for Cora and having an aggressive third base coach should continue to pay dividends if the Mets add more athleticism to their roster in the offseason.
Check back next week as our Season in Review series looks back at preseason predictions!
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