Red Sox promote former failed Yankees coach to major league staff

The Boston Red Sox on Oct. 27 announced the organization's promotion of minor league hitting coordinator Dillon Lawson to Assistant Hitting Coach of the major league squad.

Lawson will work alongside two other assistants under hitting coach Peter Fatse. The Red Sox organization parted ways with former assistant hitting coach Luis Ortiz early in the offseason, and Lawson will serve in his spot.

Lawson was hired by the Red Sox organization before the 2024 season and his first full year with the club was spent coaching the upper levels of Boston's farm system. But before he came to the Red Sox, he earned plenty of experience coaching in the American League East.

Lawson served as the New York Yankees' minor league hitting coordinator from 2019-21 and as a major league hitting coach from 2022-23. The Yankees' offense was famously slow in 2023 after Aaron Judge was forced to miss time due to a foot injury he sustained at Dodger Stadium. Lawson was fired at the All-Star break and became general manager Brian Cashman's first-ever midseason dismissal.

Red Sox hire former Yankees hitting coach, Dillon Lawson, as assistant hitting coach

The 39-year-old also has experience coaching in the Houston Astros farm system, but his tenure with the Yankees remains at the forefront of fans' minds. Soon after his 2022 promotion to New York's hitting coach job, Lawson caught heat for his "hit strikes hard" mantra, and the rest of his time with the Yankees didn't get much smoother.

The Red Sox's top prospects posted stellar seasons in the minor leagues under Lawson's guidance and the Cashman credited him for his part in many prospect breakouts. His success in New York's minor league program didn't translate when he moved to the major leagues, and hopefully that changes with Boston.

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