Pirates fire hitting coach Rick Eckstein after 2 seasons of struggles at the plate

After ranking at or near baseball’s bottom in most major offensive categories the past two seasons, the Pittsburgh Pirates fired hitting coach Rick Eckstein on Monday.

Pirates manager Derek Shelton said, after consulting with general manager Ben Cherington over the weekend, they came to the conclusion it was best to make the coaching staff change immediately instead of waiting until the offseason.

“Ultimately, this was my decision,” said Shelton, who started a video conference call by thanking Eckstein for his hard work and dedication in three seasons with the Pirates. “We just felt that once we decided this, it was better to do it now rather than wait until the end of the year because we had come up with a plan that we were going to move forward with our hitting program with different leadership.”

Eckstein, 48, joined the Pirates before the 2019 season and was one of two holdovers, along with third base coach Joey Cora, from Clint Hurdle’s coaching staff. In his first season with the Pirates, they tied for the National League lead in batting (.269), their highest average since 2003, and ranked second in hits and doubles.

The Pirates took a major step backward in the shortened season last year, when several key players batted below the Mendoza Line, most prominently outfielders Bryan Reynolds (.189) and Gregory Polanco (.153), and the club ranked last in MLB in on-base and slugging percentage and runs scored.

It didn’t help Eckstein’s cause that the Pirates traded slugger Josh Bell to Washington in December, or that Polanco had the worst OPS among all qualified outfielders this season before being released Saturday.

This season, the Pirates rank last in the majors in home runs (101), RBIs (445), runs (470), slugging percentage (.362), OPS (.665) and OPS+ (80) and batting average with runners in scoring position (.213). They are 25th in on-base percentage (.304) and 27th in batting average (.233).

Those numbers took a hit when the Pirates traded All-Star second baseman Adam Frazier, who was leading the majors in hits, in late July.

The Pirates also struggled mightily in advanced metrics, as they rank last in the majors in average exit velocity (87.5 mph), hard hit rate (34.1%) and barrels per plate appearance (3.6%), and are next-to-last in launch angle (10.2), according to Statcast.

Shelton said the decision to fire Eckstein was not based on individual player results but rather the “vision of our hitting program moving forward.”

“I think this decision was based off the leadership moving forward and the direction we want our hitting group to go in, not only at the major-league level but organizationally,” Shelton said. “That was the reason why. To say it was specific hitter-based or group-based, it was more about how we want to move forward with our hitting program and finding a different leader to do that.”

Shelton, a former hitting coach with Tampa Bay, said the Pirates will not name an interim hitting coach nor will he be “getting in the guts” of that role. Instead, assistant hitting coach Christian Marrero and analyst Tim McKeithan will continue working with hitters and get assistance from Mike Rabelo, who moved from assistant hitting coach to major league field coordinator, and possibly bench coach Don Kelly.

Shelton said he doesn’t view the final month of the season as a tryout for Marrero, who spent 12 seasons playing in the minor leagues and two as a hitting coach before joining the Pirates’ staff in January.

“I think what we view it for Christian — and I’ve outlined this for Christian in a conversation — is the opportunity for him to learn and grow a little bit,” Shelton said of Marrero. “Him being new to the major league level and new to the Pirates organization within this past year, I think it gives him the opportunity to maybe look at things a little bit differently, to have some different conversations not only amongst the staff but with the players and more of an opportunity for him to learn and grow. Then at the end of the year, we’ll evaluate everything moving forward.”