The San Diego Padres made the decision to shake up their coaching staff today by announcing that they have fired hitting coach Phil Plantier. The news was first announced by Corey Brock of MLB.com via Twitter.
Plantier had been the Padres hitting coach for the past three seasons, but the Padres offense hit rock-bottom in 2014. The Padres hit .171 in June -- the worst average by any team in the modern era. The team finished dead-last in MLB in runs, batting average and on-base percentage.
Of course, many will point to the personnel that Plantier had to work with, but many hitters seemed to regress, including Jedd Gyorko and Yonder Alonso. Plantier was the sixth hitting coach since 2004, when Petco Park opened.
San Diego also announced that the rest of the coaching staff, including assistant hitting coach Alonzo Powell will be retained in 2015. Powell is also expected to be a candidate for the now-vacant hitting coach job.
Plantier is a former big-leaguer, and had his best season as a Padre in 1993, when he hit 34 homers and drove in 100 RBI's. He coached the Padres Single-A affiliate in Lake Elsinore in 2011, and has been with the big league club ever since. Plantier could be offered a job within the organization.