The Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday night fired hitting coach Mickey Hatcher and replaced him with Triple-A Salk Lake coach Jim Eppard.
The decision was a no-brainer for the Angels as the team is currently ranked 13th in the American League for runs and seventh for batting average (.250) along with 12th in on-base percentage. The Angles have also suffered eight shut outs this season, the most in the bigs.
Even the teams newly acquired star in Albert Pujols is off to his worst career start.
With their bats failing to connect the World Series favorites are now 16-21 and seven games behind the Texas Rangers for the number one spot in their division.
Hatcher has been with the Angels since 2000 and following the decision general manager Jerry Dipoto said of the firing:
“Mickey is a terrific guy, well-liked, very energetic and hard-working. This is about providing a different voice for our offensive players. It’s a results-oriented business we’re in and we need to find a way to string together something better than what we are right now. It’s a decision to find a different voice.”
To put the teams batting in comparison, Albert Pujols hit three infield shots on Tuesday which raised his batting average to a measly .212. Pujols also has just one home run in 146 at-bats.
The Los Angeles Angels failed to score big runs in 2010 and 2011 which had caused Mickey Hatcher to fall out of favor with Angels fans.
The fall from grace for the teams batting comes after a 2009 season in which they batted a franchise record .285 while racking up records for runs and RBIs.