Former Yankees hitting coach Marcus Thames has a new home with a familiar face.
Thames is set to become the new hitting coach for Derek Jeter and the Marlins, the team announced Wednesday, shortly after he was told that he wouldn’t be offered a new contract with the Yanks, where he worked in that role since 2018.
Jeter and Thames played together in New York in 2002 and 2010.
Thames, along with third base coach Phil Nevin and assistant hitting coach P.J. Pilittere, all were told that their contracts wouldn’t be renewed for the 2022 season after a disappointing 2021 campaign. Thames was promoted from assistant hitting coach to hitting coach prior to the 2018 season, and in his first year in his new role, the Yanks led the league in home runs, were second in the league in hits and OPS, and were third in the league in walks. They were in the top three in the league in runs and OPS in 2019, and were in the top five in those categories in 2020.
But Thames and the Yankee offense took a big step back in 2021, ranking 19th in baseball in runs scored and 13th in OPS, with a wildly inconsistent offense being the major driving force behind the team’s roller coaster season.
Now, Thames arrives in Miami to inherit a Marlins lineup that had the second-worst OPS in the league last season with the third-fewest home runs.
The Marlins now have another Yankee tie in their franchise, joining Jeter, manager Don Mattingly, general manager Kim Ng, and Gary Denbo, who works in the team's scouting and player development department.
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