Why the Red Sox must overhaul hitting strategy, have a tough conversation with Peter Fatse

Why the Red Sox must overhaul hitting strategy, have a tough conversation with Peter Fatse originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Boston Red Sox’ struggles have been on full blast this season, after years of mediocrity with one exception being last year. With that in the forefront of fans’ minds, they’ve been calling for the removal of the skipper Alex Cora.

However, Cora isn’t really to blame for this. Sure, he makes a head-scratching decision here and there, but he isn’t in charge of the pitiful offense the Sox currently have. That would be their hitting coach, Peter Fatse.

Who is Peter Fatse?

Peter Fatse Ceddanne Rafaela

Fatse is a former baseball player who was drafted in 2009 in the 24th round of the MLB Draft by the Milwaukee Brewers. He never made it passed High A, and played in a couple independent leagues before becoming a hitting coach.

In his MLB coaching career, he was a minor league hitting coach with the Minnesota Twins, and then became an assistant hitting coach with the Red Sox in 2020. He was given the role of hitting coach in 2022, and has been it ever since.

Red Sox hitting stats under Fatse

Jarren Duran

Under Fatse, the Sox’ hitting has degraded since their 2004-2021 dynasty run. Since 2022, the Red Sox have slashed .254/.321/.416/.738, hit 731 home runs and have scored 3,136 runs.

From 2004-2021, the Red Sox were very much above average hitters. They slashed a good .270/.342/.441/.783 with 3,334 home runs and 14,486 runs. Yes, the dynasty was much longer, lasting 18 years to Fatse’s five and change. However, if we compare by five year splits, the “Dynasty Sox” still massively outhit and outscored the “Fatse Sox” by a large margin.

Fatse’s tenure with Sox needs to end

Wilyer Abreu

Overall, the Sox were a great offensive team before Fatse. When he became the hitting coach, the mediocrity of the Sox came too. This year especially proves the Sox need a change, since Sox players in the World Baseball Classic were amazing hitters; With the Sox, not so much.

The Sox replaced their pitching coach with Andrew Bailey when they realized they weren’t doing well, and so far, it’s worked wonders, with the minus of some of the pitchers this year. All this means though is it’s time to think about a Fatse replacement and lure in someone with proven success somewhere else.

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