The Cincinnati Reds have fired all three of their hitting coaches today, which was first reported by Mark Sheldon of Reds.com. Joel McKeithan, Terry Bradshaw, and Tim LaMonte were all fired following a season that can best be described as inconsistent at best, and below-average from the team’s offensive output.
Joel McKeithan joined the Reds organization in November of 2021 as an assistant hitting coach and offensive coordinator. He spent the 2022 season in that role before being promoted to hitting coach, where he served in both the 2023 and 2024 seasons. Prior to joining the Reds he was the minor league hitting coordinator with the Detroit Tigers and a minor league hitting coach in the Philadelphia Phillies organization.
Terry Bradshaw was an assistant hitting coach and had joined the team prior to the 2023 season. Before he joined the Reds he had been the hitting coach for the Kansas City Royals for the previous five seasons.
Tim LaMonte joined the Reds staff the same day prior to the 2023 season as Bradshaw did. LaMonte was also an assistant hitting coach, but also doubled as the integrated performance coach. Prior to his time with Cincinnati he had served as the minor league hitting coordinator with the New York Mets and a hitting coach within the Houston Astros minor league system.
Along with the firing of David Bell and Jeff Pickler, now three hitting coaches have been relieved of their duties. That’s five people within the Reds coaching staff from last season who are now out. Cincinnati’s front office and new manager Terry Francona are going to be bringing in plenty of new faces for the 2025 season.
Finding a way to get a little more out of the offense should be a big focus. Injuries likely played somewhat of a role in the team’s 88 OPS+, which ranked 27th in all of Major League Baseball in 2024. But it seemed that for every player who did take a step forward, someone else took a step backwards. Among the “regulars” that were in the lineup often enough to get at least 300 plate appearances on the season only three of the nine players were able to post an OPS+ that was better than average – Elly De La Cruz (119), Tyler Stephenson (112), and Jonathan India (105). No other hitter on the team with 50 at-bats was even average.
