Fastball

Former New York Yankees Hitting Coach Gets Big Promotion with Rival Boston Red Sox

After missing the playoffs again in 2024, the Boston Red Sox are beefing up their major league staff.

Brady Farkas

New York Yankees hitting coach Dillon Lawson takes notes before game two of the ALCS against the New York Yankees for the 2022 MLB Playoffs at Minute Maid Park.
New York Yankees hitting coach Dillon Lawson takes notes before game two of the ALCS against the New York Yankees for the 2022 MLB Playoffs at Minute Maid Park. / Thomas Shea-Imagn Images
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After missing the playoffs again in 2024, the Boston Red Sox are beefing up their major league staff. The team announced on Sunday that they have promoted Dillon Lawson to the position of assistant hitting coach.

Lawson had been working with the minor league players before this promotion. He previously served as the hitting coach for the Yankees from 2022-2023. He was fired during the 2023 season by New York.

The following on his background comes from MLBTradeRumors:

The 39-year-old Lawson had a long coaching career in college ball, including a year as the University of Missouri’s hitting coach in 2017 that was sandwiched between his first two jobs with a Major League team.  Lawson worked as a hitting coach for two separate Astros Single-A affiliates in 2016 and 2018, and then moved on to join the Yankees as a minor league hitting coordinator for the 2019-21 seasons.

Lawson and head hitting coach Pete Fatse certainly have a lot to work with in Boston. Though the team missed the playoffs, they are armed with stud offensive pieces like Rafael Devers and Jarren Duran, who is likely to finish in the Top-10 of MVP voting in the American League. Furthermore, Tristan Casas is one of the best young offensive pieces in the game and Trevor Story will be back and healthy in 2025.

Vaughn Grissom and Ceddanne Rafaela are young pieces who have played with the Red Sox and certainly have room to grow as well, giving the Red Sox a balanced and deep lineup that should keep them competitive.

If the team can figure out the pitching staff, then the Red Sox could be extremely competitive in 2024 and could even threaten for the American League East crown.

Full playoff schedule in real time

  • MLB POSTSEASON SCHEDULE: The 2024 playoffs are finally coming to a head, with the AL and NL pennant-winners now set in stone. Here is the latest on the schedule, with dates, game times, TV information and pitching matchups. CLICK HERE

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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