At the beginning of the offseason, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said his expectation was the Los Angeles Dodgers coaching staff would remain unchanged for the 2023 season.
Shortly thereafter, the possibility appeared to be in jeopardy as Dodgers first base coach Clayton McCullough again emerged as a managerial candidate. However, the Kansas City Royals instead hired Matt Quatraro as their new manager.
Change ultimately did come for the Dodgers when the Miami Marlins hired Brant Brown to be their hitting coach. Brown held the title of Dodgers co-hitting coach alongside Robert Van Scoyoc.
While speaking with media at the Winter Meetings in San Diego, Friedman said the vacancy is going to be filled by the Dodgers promoting Aaron Bates to co-hitting coach, according to Juan Toribio of MLB.com:
#Dodgers Andrew Friedman confirmed that Aaron Bates will be replacing Brant Brown as co-hitting coach
— Juan Toribio (@juanctoribio) December 7, 2022
Brown spent three seasons as Dodgers hitting coach and five overall with the club after serving as their hitting strategist in 2018 and 2019. He was originally hired by the Dodgers in 2017.
Bates joined the Dodgers coaching staff prior to the 2019 season, which was his fifth overall year with the organization. At the time of joining their Major League staff as assistant hitting coach, Bates’ duties called for being involved with the development of the organization’s Minor League hitters as well.
Bates began his coaching career in 2015 as the Rookie-level Arizona League Dodgers hitting coach. He held that position for two seasons before getting promoted to Great Lakes hitting coach in 2017. In 2018, Bates spent time as the Dodgers’ assistant hitting coordinator.
With Bates getting promoted to fill Brown’s role, the Dodgers now have an opening at assistant hitting coach.
Aaron Bates joined Max Muncy on rehab
When Max Muncy was attempting to overcome struggles this past season, he was accompanied by Bates while on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Oklahoma City.
The team was encouraged by the direction Bates was able to provide during that time with Muncy, who did show stretches of improvement after coming off the 15-day injured list.
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