Red Sox Reportedly Hire Ex-Yankees Hitting Coach In New Role

The Red Sox and Yankees are doing an unusual amount of crossing over this offseason, with Boston reportedly hiring a former member of New York's coaching staff Monday.

It'll never not be weird.

The Red Sox hired Dillon Lawson as their new hitting coordinator, according to Brendan Kuty of The Athletic. Sean McAdam of MassLive confirmed the report. The addition comes a few weeks after Boston shipped outfielder Alex Verdugo to New York in a rare trade between the two rivals.

Lawson spent parts of two seasons as New York's hitting coach before being fired in July. He was replaced by Sean Casey, a three-time Major League Baseball All-Star with no coaching experience. Casey was not retained by the Yankees.

"I'm excited to be joining a great team that's already moving in the right direction," Lawson told Kuty after joining the Red Sox.

It is expected Lawson will work with high-level minor league hitters in Worcester and Portland. He replaces Lance Zawadzki in the role, who was hired as an assistant hitting coach with the Detroit Tigers. Lawson served in a minor-league role with the Yankees prior to his elevation in 2022.

It's ben a busy offseason on the coaching side for Boston, with new chief baseball officer Craig Breslow already having hired Andrew Bailey to take over as a new major league pitching coach and Justin Willard to take over as director of pitching.