The New York Yankees are making a drastic change to their coaching staff ahead of the All-Star break.
According to a report from Jon Heyman of the New York Post, the Yankees are firing hitting coach Dillon Lawson. The news came after the slumping AL East club fell 7-4 to the Chicago Cubs at home.
Per Bob Nightengale of USA Today, this marks the first time where Yankees GM Brian Cashman has fired a coach midseason. Cashman has been the GM of the Pinstripes since 1998.
The Yankees enter the All-Star Break with with a 49-42 record, having dropped four of their last five games. The offense has been in a drastic slump since Aaron Judge suffered a toe injury in the team’s June 3 road game against the New York Yankees.
Judge hasn’t played since that game, and the Pinstripes have endured quite the power outage offensively ever since. Among the key players slumping: Giancarlo Stanton (a .203 batting average), Josh Donaldson (.152) and D.J. LeMahieu (.220).
The Yankees are one game behind the Houston Astros and Toronto Blue Jays (50-41) for the last two wild card spots in the American League. Though they’re seven games above.500, expectations were much higher for a New York team that won 99 games last year en route to an ALCS appearance.
New York’s first game following the All-Star break will be a road game against Colorado Rockies on July 14.
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