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Mike Easler rejected to be Pirates hitting coach

Posted on by angelo

In 2022, Mike Easler, a member of the 1979 World Series champion Pittsburgh Pirates, contacted them to become their batting coach. He looked at their stats and saw that no one was over .275. (The Pirates would finish 2022 with Kevin Newman leading the way at .274, excluding two minor league call-ups who had a handful of at-bats.) “It’s unacceptable,” Easler told interviewer Joe Shuta . The Pirates never returned his call. “It’s their loss, not mine,” Easler said with disgust. This story was unknown and has not been reported in any Pittsburgh media at the time or since.

“The Hit Man” lamented the current state of hitting in baseball. He believes there is too much emphasis on analysis, launch angles and exit velocity, and not enough contact being made. His full comments are in the brief video below.

Mike Easler dismissed as Pirates hitting coach

Part of the Fam-A-Lee

This offer to become their batting coach was not the first time Easler approached the Pirates about a job after his career. When the Pirates were looking for a manager after firing Gene Lamont in 2000, Easler threw his hat into the ring. At the time, he was the batting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals were in Atlanta to battle the Braves in the National League Division Series when Pirates owner Kevin McClatchy and general manager Cam Bonifay interviewed Easler in his hotel room. Describing the interview with Paul Meyer from Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Easler’s bubbly personality is evident. “It was beautiful,” Easler said. “They handled it exquisitely. They were perfect gentlemen.

“It has to be a family again,” Easler continued. He should know that. He played for the Pirates at a time when they were known as Fam-A-Lee. In 1979, their adopted theme song was “We Are Family” by Sister Sledge. Despite the unfortunate choice of a disco song when a much more interesting punk rock/new wave scene was raging across the world, the Pirates won the World Series. Meanwhile, the managerial job went to “Legendary” Lloyd McClendon, who finished 336-446 in five seasons in Pittsburgh.

Easler could help Pirates as hitting coach

The Pirates’ current batting coach is Andy Haines. After being fired by the Milwaukee Brewers, with whom he served in the same position, Haines joined the Pirates in 2022. Since his arrival, the Pirates have finished at or near the bottom in many important offensive categories. In 2022, the team hit .222/291/.364 and finished last in the NL in batting average and OPS. It was just a little better in 2023 when they hit .239/.315/.392. As of Sunday’s action, the team is hitting .225/.308/.334. An alarming trend has emerged where Bucs hitters are facing a high number of called third strikes. They don’t succeed with runners in scoring position.

To be fair to Haines, the Pirates don’t have any hitters who will soon be confused with Mookie Betts. Additionally, the Pirates brain trust is doing Haines a disservice by keeping Nick Gonzales and others in the minors. Nevertheless, the club’s offensive performances have not improved significantly compared to 2021, despite a better level of talent today. Something is not working.

We look at the Pirates today and wonder if their hitters come to the plate overloaded with information. They seem to spend a lot of time looking at iPads and charts while in the shelter. Analytics has its place in the game. However, there is also an old baseball axiom that you don’t coach during the game. Prepare the players before the match, let them play and fix things the next day. One wonders if the Pirates could benefit from an old-school approach that Easler would bring as batting coach.

“I’m going to kill him”

Easler played for six teams from 1973 to 1987, including six years with the Pirates. During his career, the left-handed hitter hit .293/.349/.454 with 118 home runs, 522 RBIs and an OPS+ of 118. He had a good eye at the plate and could hit to all fields with a quick, compact but powerful swing. He went north with the Pirates after spring training in 1979 and was used primarily as a pinch hitter. The Pirates had Dave Parker, Omar Moreno, Bill Robinson, John Milner and Lee Lacy, making Easler a sixth outfielder, something we don’t see in today’s era of bench fours. (They also had a seventh outfielder in Matt Alexander.)

Easler’s finest moment of that season – and of his career to that point – came on May 16 against the New York Mets at Three Rivers Stadium. He hadn’t seen much action in the first month and a half. He had not yet played a full season in the majors and must have been questioning his status. In the bottom of the 13th inning, with the score tied 3-3, manager Chuck Tanner asked Easler to pinch hit. Mets pitcher Skip Lockwood was entering his third inning of work.

A student of the game, Easler noticed that Lockwood started all hitters with fastballs. Those fastballs were falling into the stands. Easler told Pirates batting coach Bob Skinner, “I’m not going to foul. I’m going to kill him. Easler got his fastball on the first pitch and crushed a line drive home run deep into the right field stands. He was in the majors to stay. Playing regularly in 1980, he hit .338/.396/.583. He played in the All-Star Game in 1981.

The hitman

Easler is an experienced hitting coach. Besides his time with the Cardinals, he also served as a batting coach with the Brewers, the Boston Red Sox (where his award-winning student was Mo Vaughn), the Los Angeles Dodgers and several minor league teams. He also managed two unaffiliated teams. Today, at 73, with his thick gray beard, he still offers personalized typing lessons and advertises on a Facebook page. (He says the page is run by his daughters. He’s also old school when it comes to social media.) Last year, on said page, Easler expressed interest in the Yankees batting coach job , which was attributed to Sean Casey.

Where did the Fam-A-Lee go?

The fact that the Pirates rejected Easler in 2022 raises two issues. The first is the inability to even extend the courtesy of a return call to any of their former players. The second, and more important, problem is the Pirates’ reluctance over the years to have many of their 1979 champion players as coaches on the major league staff. From that 1979 team, Phil Garner became a major league manager. Nine others have served as major league coaches. Only Grant Jackson and Willie Stargell have served as coaches for the Pirates. Incredibly, the Pirates let Stargell run away and follow Tanner to Atlanta to join his team. “Pops” never looked good in a Braves uniform.

Perhaps the Pirates wanted to remove the stain of cocaine trials associated with the Tanner era. However, it was 1985, and only Parker was involved in this lawsuit among the 10 who became managers or coaches in the majors. It’s hard to believe that today’s players wouldn’t benefit from the experience of a coach who has World Series experience.

The last word

For now, the Pirates front office is 100 percent behind Haines, a hard worker in every way. However, if the offensive woes continue for much longer, one has to wonder when Haines’ seat will start to heat up. Meanwhile, if the Pirates decide to look for a new batting coach, Easler is just a Facebook message away.

Photo credit: © Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports