Don Baylor named hitting coach of the Los Angeles Angels

Several reports indicate that Arizona Diamondbacks hitting coach Don Baylor will leave the team and assume the same role with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

In Arizona, it appears as if assistant hitting coach Turner Ward could assume Baylor’s vacated role. Baylor managed the Angels current general manager Jerry Dipoto with the Rockies during the 1990s and also spent six seasons with the Angels as a player in the 1970s and 1980s. He won the American League MVP award in 1979, hitting .296 with 36 home runs and 139 RBIs – the best mark in all of baseball that season.

Baylor spent 19 years in Major League Baseball as a player, hitting .260 during his career with 2,135 hits, including 338 home runs and 1,276 RBIs. He played from 1970 through the 1988 season, when he retired as a player.

Five years later, Baylor joined the Colorado Rockies as a manager, a role he held until 1998. He then managed the Chicago Cubs for three seasons. As a manager, he posted a record of 627-689 (.476).

The Angels have struggled since making a pair of high-profile signings in the form of Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton, and Baylor could be the organization’s attempt at righting a ship that may not be sinking, but is certainly taking on water.

The organization also announced recently that both Dipoto and manager Mike Scioscia would return in 2014, despite going 78-84 and finishing 18 games behind the American League West Champion Oakland Athletics.