{"id":847980,"date":"2026-11-07T16:21:35","date_gmt":"2026-11-07T16:21:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/847980\/"},"modified":"2026-11-07T16:21:35","modified_gmt":"2026-11-07T16:21:35","slug":"aaron-bates-surprised-to-not-be-returning-as-dodgers-co-hitting-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/847980\/","title":{"rendered":"Aaron Bates Surprised To Not Be Returning As Dodgers\u2019 Co-Hitting Coach"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Just over two weeks removed from president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman suggesting the Los Angeles Dodgers coaching staff would remain intact for 2027, there <a href=\"https:\/\/dodgerblue.com\/dodgers-hitting-coach-aaron-bates-leaving-contract-negotiations\/2026\/11\/06\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">instead is going to be some change<\/a> under manager Dave Roberts.<\/p>\n<p>That stems from hitting coach Aaron Bates and the Dodgers parting ways after his contract expired following the 2026 season. The outcome was one that caught Bates by surprise, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/sports\/dodgers\/story\/2026-11-06\/dodgers-hitting-coach-aaron-bates-part-ways\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Maddie Lee of the L.A. Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBasically, they said, \u2018I think we should go our separate ways,\u201d Bates told The Times. \u201cI was just very taken aback, in a sense, by that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI expect status quo,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/dodgerblue.com\/andrew-friedman-dodgers-coaching-staff-not-changing-next-season\/2026\/10\/22\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Friedman answered last month<\/a> when asked if there would be changes within the Dodgers front office or coaching staff. \u201cStill working through things, but expect status quo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Friedman\u2019s remarks came despite external calls for change \u2014 particularly with the offensive coaches \u2014 due to the team\u2019s struggles in October for a second consecutive year. Bates had been co-hitting coach alongside Robert Van Scoyoc. <\/p>\n<p>Van Scoyoc remains on the Dodgers coaching staff heading into the 2027 season.<\/p>\n<p>Even with a lull during the summer months, the Dodgers finished the year near the top in several offensive categories. Among them were batting average (second, .257), on-base percentage (third, .338), on-base plus slugging (second, .762) and home runs (tied for seventh, 204). Their 111 wRC+ trailed only the Chicago Cubs for the best mark in baseball.<\/p>\n<p>The Dodgers additionally were named a <a href=\"https:\/\/dodgerblue.com\/max-muncy-shohei-ohtani-and-dodgers-among-silver-slugger-awards-finalists-for-2026\/2026\/11\/05\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">finalist for the National League team Silver Slugger Award<\/a>, and Shohei Ohtani and Max Muncy were at their respective positions as well.<\/p>\n<p>Aaron Bates\u2019 history as Dodgers coach<\/p>\n<p>Bates began his career in the Dodgers organization as a Minor League player in 2014. He only appeared in 11 games for Double-A Chattanooga that season and embarked on a coaching career in 2015. He worked as a Minor League hitting coach and coordinator for three seasons before joining the Dodgers coaching staff as an assistant hitting coach in 2019.<\/p>\n<p>Following a four-year stint in that role, Bates was promoted to co-hitting coach along with Van Scoyoc in 2023, and remained in that position through this season.<\/p>\n<p>The Dodgers are evaluating whether to find a replacement to Bates\u2019 position or move ahead with Van Scoyoc as their lone official hitting coach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Just over two weeks removed from president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman suggesting the Los Angeles Dodgers coaching&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":847981,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2406],"tags":[5,39,1165,4332,4333,774,57,3224,4331,4],"class_list":["post-847980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles-dodgers","tag-baseball","tag-dodgers","tag-la","tag-la-dodgers","tag-ladodgers","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-dodgers","tag-losangeles","tag-losangelesdodgers","tag-mlb"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/117576078666711749","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=847980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/847981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=847980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=847980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=847980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}