Why Have the Baltimore Orioles Hired Two Hitting Coaches?

The Baltimore Orioles decided not to renew the contract of former hitting coach Don Long this offseason, instead hiring two hitting coaches. Why? How will that work out?

On the Baltimore Orioles website, Matt Borgschulte and Ryan Fuller are listed as  “Co-Hitting Coach”.  Why does this team need two hitting coaches? With the league’s average pitcher becoming more and more talented, the responsibilities of the hitting coach are greater than ever. This might be the next thing in baseball.

This reminds me of when Mike Flanagan and Jim Beattie shared the General Manager duties in the early 2000s.  Now, the players will have two coaches that might have different hitting approaches to go to, which can probably be a little bit confusing.  Let’s hope that Matt Borgschulte and Ryan Fuller are on the same page when it comes to their advice on hitting with the players.

The hiring of these “co-hitting” coaches has gotten me curious as to how this will work out. Say that the offense struggles: does one get let go to see if the other can right the ship, or do both get let go? I wonder if I’m the only one who is a little be curious as to why Orioles Manager Brandon Hyde needs two hitting coaches.

Before being hired as hitting coach for the Baltimore Orioles, Matt Borgschulte was previously with the Minnesota Twins organization as hitting coach for the Gulf Coast League Twins.  In the last three seasons, Borgschulte has moved from a Low-A ball hitting coach, to a Triple-A hitting coach in 2020 and 2021.  As for Ryan Fuller, he played baseball at UConn, but only spent one year in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization before running a private school.  It was then in 2021 when he was hired by the Bowie Baysox.

Will the veteran players on the team be thrilled that they have two hitting coaches that might or might not be able to improve their game?   If Spring Training starts on time for the 2022 season, that’s going to be something to keep an eye on.  Will the players embrace the two-hitting coach system and will other major league teams adopt this philosophy?

This experiment could go poorly for the Orioles or it could be a big step in the right direction.  We won’t really know until the 2022 season starts and how the players adjust to Matt Borgschulte and Ryan Fuller as “Co-Hitting” coaches.