After the New York Mets finished the 2014 season ranked 13th in the National League in batting average at .239, the team's front office has decided to shake up the coaching staff. MLB.com's Anthony DiComo reports that the Mets will not rehire hitting coach Lamar Johnson (pictured) or his assitant, Luis Natera, to their same positions in 2015. Dicomo does say, however, that both men will receive offers to continue coaching in the Mets' Minor League system.
#Mets officially announce hitting coach Lamar Johnson and asst. Luis Natera will not return in 2015. All other coaches will come back. - Anthony DiComo
Dicomo quoted Mets manager Sandy Alderson discussing his pleaseure with the two coaches and the work they put in since taking over the hitting coaching duties in late May. Said Alderson,
"We appreciate the hard work of Lamar and Luis this year at the Major League level. We hope they will continue to be part of the Mets organization in the future."
The Mets finished 13th in average at .239, but that is not the entire story. They finished eighth in runs scored, right in the middle of the 15-team pack, which averages out to 3.88 runs per game. Their pitching staff ERA was 3.49, which might lead one to believe that the Mets could and should have finished better than 79-83.
According to DiComo, the Mets had a nearly identical total team batting average both before Johnson and Natera replaced Dave Hudgens as hitting coaches as well as after. The Mets will try to look inside their organiation, but they will also consider qualified candidates from outside as well. However, Dicomo says, "...there will not be room for popular Triple-A Las Vegas manager Wally Backman on the big league staff."
Individually, Daniel Murphy led all Mets qualifiers with a .289 average with David Wright second at .269. Lucas Duda led the team in both home runs (30), and RBI (92). Duda also had the highest on-base average at .349, and Murphy had 172 hits and scored 79 runs to lead the team in both categories.