Yankees fans were pumped to find out Dillon Lawson, New York’s underperforming hitting coach, was fired on Sunday after a miserable first half of hitting.
The Yankees have underperformed at the plate all season. Now a scapegoat has been found.
On Sunday, New York fell to the Cubs to finish the first half at 49-42 with the third-worst team batting average in baseball. Not long after the game, Jon Heyman reported that hitting coach Dillon Lawson is “expected to be relieved of that job.”
“I ultimately felt that a change was needed and that a new voice overseeing our hitting operations would give us the best chance to perform closer to our capabilities as we move forward into the 2nd half,” Brian Cashman said, via Greg Joyce of the New York Post.
Someone was always going to have to pay for the offensive failures in 2023. Fans, many of whom were calling for Lawson to be fired for weeks, weren’t sad to see Lawson get the axe.
Yankees fans on Twitter were elated by Dillon Lawson’s firing
BLOB FISH DILLON LAWSON YOU’RE FIREDDDDD YOU CANT RUIN ANYMORE ROOKIES BATTING STANCES EVER AGAIN pic.twitter.com/CmqZlh5NFQ
— roseanne ✨ (@hoodierizz) July 9, 2023
THE YANKEES DIDNT WIN TODAY BUT DILLON LAWSON'S ASS IS GRASS SO HERE WE GOOOOO DAAAAA YANKEEEEES WINNNNNN pic.twitter.com/8B8sDYyuc7
— shazil (@gleyberdayyy) July 9, 2023
dillon lawson fired pic.twitter.com/zGSWI8s8B3
— loi #FIRECASHMAN (@dustyrx1) July 9, 2023
Of course, not everyone was jumping for joy. Some saw Lawson as a fall guy for deeper problems with the Yankees roster.
Firing Dillon Lawson was, unfortunately, the right thing to do, but the truth is simple -- the players actually have to hit, and I hope they start re-focusing on simply making contact and playing with a sense of urgency.
— Fireside Yankees (@FiresideYankees) July 9, 2023
This doesn't fix anything, but someone had to be blamed.
Two things can be true:
— Jordan Addison 4️⃣ OROY (@skoltrain87) July 9, 2023
- Dillon Lawson didn't do a very good job
- Firing him doesn't solve the Yankees' real problems of roster construction and keeping younger players deserving of more playing time trapped in the minor leagues.
Yes, how dare Dillon Lawson force Josh Donaldson to age, then refuse to put a legitimate left fielder on the team, stock the roster with injury concerns and demand that Aaron Boone refuse to learn how to manage baseball games after five years of screw-ups. https://t.co/A0igDjII90
— Cody Derespina (@CDerespina) July 9, 2023
Whether Lawson was solely at fault for the Yankees problems (he wasn’t, but that’s beside the point), there’s no denying that NY’s hitting has not been good enough this year.
The Yankees had 679 hits in the first half, just 17 more than the Oakland Athletics, the only team below them in the stat sheet.
Players like Anthony Volpe, notably, had to seek outside help to fix issues with their swings.
Lawson may be a scapegoat but the numbers make it clear the change needed to happen.
The Yankees still need to assess other positions across their staff and whether or not poor performances elsewhere require more changes down the line.