Hitting Coach Aaron Bates To Leave Dodgers Organization

Dodgers hitting coach Aaron Bates is departing the organization, reports MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes. He’d been offered a multi-year contract to stay, but the two parties couldn’t come to terms on a final agreement. Bates’ departure closes a 12-year run with the Dodgers that saw him contribute to World Series titles in 2020, 2024 and 2025. Bates, 42, had a nine-year playing career, mostly in the minors. He was a third-round pick by the Red Sox back in 2006 and briefly reached the majors in 2009, going 4-for-11 with a walk in what would be the only 12 plate appearances of his MLB career. He spent a couple years in the Twins’ system after signing minor league contracts and briefly appeared with the Cardinals’ top affiliate before closing out his playing career in the Dodgers organization. While Bates only played 11 games in the Dodgers’ system in 2014, that proved to be a serendipitous landing spot. The Dodgers gave him his first coaching opportunity in 2015 after he retired as a player. Bates was a minor league hitting coach and coordinator before climbing to the big league staff as an assistant hitting coach in 2019. Bates and Robert Van Scoyoc have jointly carried the title of “hitting coach” with the Dodgers since 2023. The Dodgers had seemingly been planning to retain their entire staff. Bates’ departure comes as something of a surprise. Van Scoyoc is still on board with the “hitting coach” title, but time will tell whether Bates’ decision to explore other opportunities will prompt the L.A. front office to bring in an additional hitting coach or perhaps promote someone from their minor league coaching ranks. Regardless, an eight-year run on a perennially successful Dodgers staff should create plenty of interest for Bates as he weighs his next steps in baseball. View Comments (0)