For the first time in three years, there will be a change in the Dodgers coaching staff for 2027, as hitting coach Aaron Bates won’t return. Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors was first to report the coaching change, which was also reported by Maddie Lee of the Los Angeles Times, Jack Harris of the California Post, and others.
“The Dodgers offered Bates a multiyear contract to stay, but the two sides couldn’t agree to terms,” Dierkes wrote.
Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman in his
season-ending press conference at Dodger Stadium on October 21 was asked if there would be any coaching changes this offseason.
“I expect status quo,” Friedman said. “We’re still working through some things, but expect status quo.”
Bates, 42, was on the Dodgers major league coaching staff during the last eight seasons, including the last four as hitting coach along with Robert Van Scoyoc. Bates from 2019-22 held a dual role as assistant hitting coach on the major league staff and director of hitting for the minor league system.
As a player, Bates was a third-round draft pick of the Boston Red Sox in 2006 out of North Carolina State, and he played in five games in the majors for Boston in 2009. The corner outfielder and first baseman played for nine seasons in the minors, ending with 11 games for Double-A Chattanooga in the Dodgers’ system in 2014.
Bates was in the Dodgers organization for 13 years, including 12 years as a coach. Before joining the major league staff he was hitting coach in the Arizona Complex League in 2015 and 2016, then Class-A Great Lakes in 2017, before shifting to assistant hitting coordinator for the Dodgers minors.
