Now that the 2023 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.
While the coaching staff of the New York Mets received high marks in 2022, complete with a Manager of the Year award for Buck Showalter, 2023 was a far different story. Despite only a minor shakeup in the coaching staff designed to keep Eric Chavez around, the Mets dropped from 101 wins all the way to 75, a result that saw Showalter get fired and the rest of the staff in limbo while new President of Baseball Operations David Stearns evaluates how to move forward. Let’s take a look at how each coach performed individually, beginning with Showalter.
Manager
While Showalter seemed to have the magic touch in 2022, every move he made in 2023 seemed to go poorly. The biggest issues for Showalter were bullpen management, which he struggled to solve after losing Edwin Diaz prior to the season, and sticking with his veterans for far too long at the expense of development reps for younger players. While it appears the front office may have interfered on the latter front by insisting Showalter stick with Daniel Vogelbach, the bullpen usage problem cost the Mets a lot of games, most notably June 24 in Philadelphia when he let secondary relievers cough up an important game while closer David Robertson sat idle in the eighth inning. Stearns opted to make a change here to bring his own guy in as manager but it remains to be seen what type of leader Stearns wants.
Pitching Coaches
Jeremy Hefner was back again as the Mets’ pitching coach while newcomer Dom Chiti succeeded Craig Bjornson as the bullpen coach. Injuries didn’t help the coaches do their job but the fact that young pitchers like David Peterson and Tylor Megill regressed at the beginning of the season wasn’t a good look for either guy. The bullpen was a bit thin but it also appeared at times like the relievers being utilized were often used in a way that put them in the best position to succeed.
Hitting Coach
The Mets’ decision to promote Chavez opened up the hitting coach slot for Jeremy Barnes, who had served as Chavez’s assistant last season. Barnes didn’t change the organization’s hitting philosophy but the team’s results suffered early in the season, some of which may be attributed to a change in who was delivering the coaching. The team eventually started hitting for more pop and produced more consistently as the year wore on but it was largely too late to make a difference in the season’s trajectory.
Bench Coach
After Glenn Sherlock served as the bench coach in 2022, the Mets re-assigned him to be the primary catching coach to offer a promotion to Chavez, who had served as the primary hitting coach a year ago. Chavez is someone the front office thought highly of and is regarded as a potential future manager, so he figures to get an interview when Stearns starts the process of finding Showalter’s replacement.
Base Coaches
Joey Cora and Wayne Kirby served as the base coaches once again. The aggressive base running mentality the Mets developed in 2022 under Cora remained in 2023 although the team’s results weren’t nearly as good. Adding more athleticism at the end of the season helped the cause and it seems like the team values Cora’s contributions significantly, so he may stay on under the new regime as well.
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