"Fire Your Hitting Coach Day" is sort of like "Take Your Daughter To Work Day" around Major League Baseball, but instead of taking their daughters to work, teams are expected to fire their hitting coach. The Florida Marlins became the second contending team to fire their hitting coach on Wednesday, relieving John Mallee of his duties and replacing him with former major leaguer Eduardo Perez.
Marlins Fire Hitting Coach John Mallee; Eduardo Perez Takes Over
Mallee took over as hitting coach last June after spending nine years as a minor-league instructor in the Marlins' organization. First baseman Logan Morrison, usually so reserved and taciturn, chose this opportunity to finally break out of his shell:
“I don’t think it’s right. I don’t think it’s just,” Morrison said. “He had us prepared. It’s not his fault we’re not scoring runs. We let him down, and it’s disappointing.”
Other Marlins were visibly upset at the surprising news, which came after a 3-2 loss to the Atlanta Braves.
Perez was most recently a baseball analyst on ESPN, and was a career .247/.326/.431 hitter over 13 seasons. If he weren't an analyst, this would have been the first time most baseball fans would have thought about him since 2006, except for Mariners fans, who think about him every time Asdrubal Carbrera's name is uttered by anyone within three square miles.
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