The Los Angeles Dodgers parted ways with hitting coach Aaron Bates this offseason, and third baseman Max Muncy said they’ll be missing the “outstanding” coach.
Appearing on the “Foul Territory” podcast on Monday, Muncy was asked by host A.J. Pierzynski about Bates’ departure, which occurred after he and the team were unable to agree on a new contract.
Bates has said the team presented him something that was “not a competitive offer.”
“Basically, they said, ‘I think we should go our separate ways,” Bates told The LA Times. “I was just very taken aback, in a sense, by that.”
Muncy told the “Foul Territory” crew that Bates’ skills will be missed.
What did Max Muncy say about Aaron Bates?
Muncy said that Bates was uniquely talented at communicating with players and helping them hit their best.
“I’m really sad to see Aaron go and I’m excited for him. I hope he gets a great opportunity to go somewhere and be a head hitting coach because I think he’s outstanding at his job and he’s outstanding at being able to relay messages to players in such a unique way,” Muncy explained.
Muncy added that Bates was especially talented at telling players what they “needed to hear even if it wasn’t what they wanted to hear.”
Fellow host Erik Kratz asked if Muncy was alluding to “tough love,” but Muncy said it’s more a matter of being direct.
As an example, Muncy said he’d present a problem with his batting form to Bates, who’d simply respond “yeah, just don’t do that.”
“Sometimes hitting is as simple as ‘just don’t do that,'” Muncy said. “He always knew exactly how I needed to hear things. When I started overanalyzing my swing and getting too much into some of the stuff, he would just say it like that and he’d break me out of that funk of overthinking things. I just need to simplify it. ‘Hey, just hit the ball. Don’t do this, don’t do that.’ He’s very, very talented at being able to tell guys things like that.”
What does Max Muncy think of Aaron Bates leaving?
When asked, Muncy declined to get into the details of Bates’ discussions with the Dodgers organization, noting that it’s the team’s decision to make.
That said, he was supportive of Bates and said he hopes Bates lands a new coaching role soon.
“Like I said, it’s going to suck to see Aaron leave because I love him and I think he’s tremendous at his job, but sometimes, as I saw that he said, it’s just time to move on,” Muncy said. “If he’s in a good place about it, then we all should be too.”
