After a purge last week, the Mets have moved to fill a key coaching vacancy.
Jeff Albert, the organization’s hitting director, will oversee the major league team’s hitting program, according to an industry source.
Albert, 44, previously served as Cardinals hitting coach in 2018 after beginning his MLB coaching career as an Astros assistant.
According to a source, the Mets plan to hire at least one additional hitting coach to work under Albert. The move follows the organization’s decision to fire coaches Eric Chavez and Jeremy Barnes, who each had one year left on their respective contracts.
This season, the Mets finished sixth in the MLB with a .753 OPS, but the team struggled to score runs for much of the first half as production lagged with runners in scoring position.
Albert joined the Mets before the 2023 season to oversee the minor league hitting program.
“They have a very good hitting program in the minor leagues,” said a person familiar with the Mets’ infrastructure. “[The major league staff] was very much in tune with those guys. [Albert] is an incredibly smart, talented man. Jeff has the ability and he’s done it before.
After the team’s second-half collapse, which culminated in a loss at Miami on the final day of the regular season, leaving the Mets one win shy of the playoffs, six coaches left, but manager Carlos Mendoza was retained.
Catching instructor Glenn Sherlock retired and bench coach John Gibbons stepped aside.
Pitching coach Jeremy Hefner had a club option for 2026 that will not be picked up and third base coach Mike Sarbaugh has an expiring contract that will not be renewed, in addition to the dismissals of Barnes and Chavez.
#Mets #promote #Jeff #Albert #hitting #coach #dismantling #staff