Chili Davis hired as new Boston Red Sox hitting coach
Chili Davis, the hitting coach of the Oakland Athletics, has been hired by the Boston Red Sox to be their new hitting instructor. This new comes from Rob Bradford at WEEI 93.7FM, the Red Sox flagship radio station.
Davis joined the Athletics as their hitting coach in mid-2012, when manager Bob Melvin took over as the A’s skipper in place of Bob Geren, and has been the head hitting coach for the A’s for the past three seasons.
Prior to joining the Athletics’ staff, Davis, 54, was a part of the Red Sox organization. He was the hitting coach for their Triple-A affiliate the Pawtucket Red Sox.
According to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle the A’s top choices to replace Davis are the assistant hitting coach of the Los Angeles Angels Dave Hansen and one-time A’s player Dave Magadan who was part of the Texas Rangers coaching staff.
With Chili Davis heading to #RedSox, the Chronicle has learned the #Athletics have interest in #Angels asst hitting coach Dave Hanson.
— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) October 19, 2014
Look for #Athletics also to look at Dave Magadan is he is available, especially if #Angels move Hansen into the top hitting coach job.
— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) October 19, 2014
Both Davis and Magaden were given permission by their respective ball clubs to interview for the open hitting coach position with the New York Yankees who let go their long-time hitting coach, Kevin Long, just last week.
Hansen may end up not being available as he may be promoted to head hitting coach with the Angels. The Angels current hitting coach Don Baylor may opt for a different position in the organization due to health issues.
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Davis, a former MLB All-Star, will be replacing Red Sox hitting coach Greg Colbrunn, who suffered a serious health crisis recently and chose to retire after the 2014 season.
Chili Davis aka Charles Davis, played in the Majors for 19 seasons from 1981 when he was 21 years old until he turned 39 in 1999.
He played with a number of teams including the San Francisco Giants, Minnesota Twins, New York Yankees, Kansas City Royals and the Angels, when they were known as the California Angels.
A three-time All-Star Davis owns a career slashline of .274/.360/.445. His best seasons were in the mid-90’s. In 1993 Davis drove in a career high 112 runs, in 1995 he batted .318 and later had a career year hitting 30 home runs in 1997.