While there were reports Rick Honeycutt was unlikely to return as pitching coach next season, Los Angeles Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman recently said he anticipated the club’s entire coaching staff to remain intact.
Shortly thereafter, assistant hitting coach Tim Hyers accepted a position with the Boston Red Sox as the lead hitting coach for the Major League club. Another departure could be third base coach Chris Woodward, who interviewed for the vacant New York Yankees managerial position.
Although it was not guaranteed the Dodgers were set on finding a replacement for Hyers, a logical candidate appeared to be Triple-A Oklahoma City hitting coach Shawn Wooten. However, he was not retained by the organization, according to Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
Dodgers have let go of Triple-A hitting coach Shawn Wooten, who worked closely with Corey Seager, Cody Bellinger and Joc Pederson. Assistant hitting coach Tim Hyers earlier was hired away by Boston as big-league hitting coach.
— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) November 20, 2017
Wooten is fresh off completing a second season as the Oklahoma City hitting coach. Prior to that he was the hitting coach for Double-A Tulsa from 2014-2015, and previously spent four seasons coaching in the San Diego Padres farm system, including three as manager.
In addition to his noted work with Joc Pederson and Corey Seager, Wooten also aided in the development of O’Koyea Dickson and Rob Segedin in recent years. This past season, Pederson credited Wooten for aiding a turnaround while the young center fielder was on a rehab assignment.
Along with Oklahoma City needing to hire a new hitting coach, they also must vill a void left at pitching coach, due to Matt Herges accepting a position with the San Francisco Giants.
