Why Did Yankees Make Major In-Season Change? Brian Cashman Explains

The New York Yankees aren’t usually the type of organization to make a major in-season change, but that’s exactly what they did Sunday by firing hitting coach Dillon Lawson.

Lawson was named New York’s hitting coach prior to the 2022 campaign after he climbed the ranks within the organization. Currently, though, the Yankees are tied with the Detroit Tigers for the second-worst batting average in all of baseball (.231) and rank 19th in runs scored.

“It has been well documented that I have been reluctant in the past to make changes to our coaching staff in the middle of a season,” general manager Brian Cashman shared in a statement, per Yankees reporter Max Goodman of NJ.com.

“I am a big believer that successes and failures are collective efforts. However, I ultimately felt that a change was needed and that a new voice overseeing our hitting operations would give us the best chance to perform closer to our capabilities as we move forward into the second half of our season.”

Cashman acknowledged how there is a chance the Yankees will see over the second half of the season that Lawson wasn’t the issue. Many Yankees reporters and fans have called Lawson the scapegoat since the move. Bigger reasons behind the underwhelming performance in New York include the injury-related absence of Aaron Judge and the team’s aging veterans not supplementing the offense.

The Yankees now enter the MLB All-Star break 49-42 and one game out of last place in the highly-competitive American League East.