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MLB rumors: Mets pass on adding another coach with Yankees ties to Buck Showalter’s staff

New York Mets manager Buck Showalter, right, answers questions during a virtual press conference where he was introduced as the new team manager, Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2021, in New York.
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The Miami Marlins are the Yankees South, thanks to owner Derek Jeter, general manager Kim Ng and manager Don Mattingly.

So I guess that makes the Mets the Yankees Southeast?

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The Mets are doing their best to import people with ties to the Yankees. The list includes GM Billy Eppler, manager Buck Showalter and hitting coach Eric Chavez. But it won’t include Jason Lefkowitz, according to the New York Post’s Joel Sherman.

The #Mets had been considering Jason Lefkowitz as an assistant hitting coach. They are going in another direction. Lefkowitz has received strong reviews for the work he has done as the personal hitting instructor for #Yankees top prospect Anthony Volpe.

According to MLB.com, “The 2019 first-rounder spent the canceled Minor League season trekking back and forth between hitting instruction with former Major League scout Jason Lefkowitz in New York’s Westchester County and strength training back home in New Jersey.”

After a 2020 filled with swing breakdowns alongside Lefkowitz and efforts to achieve an efficient swing that would allow Volpe to hit any pitch in the zone, the quality of his contact took off in 2021. His 27.8 percent groundball rate was the lowest among Yankees Minor League qualifiers and 10th-lowest among full-season qualifiers in all of the Minors.

Volpe heads into 2022 as the Yankees’ No. 1 prospect. If general manager Brian Cashman passes on signing big-ticket free-agent shortstops Carlos Correa and Trevor Story, Volpe’s path to the majors is clear with a target date of 2023 for his MLB debut.

Mike Rosenstein may be reached at mrosenstein@njadvancemedia.com.

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