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Pirates Decide to Part Ways with Hitting Coaches Jeff Branson and Jeff Livesey

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The Pittsburgh Pirates announced on Monday afternoon that hitting coach Jeff Branson and Assistant Hitting Coach Jeff Livesey won’t be returning for the 2019 season. They also said that they don’t expect anymore changes to the coaching staff this off-season.

Neal Huntington released a statement on the decision:

“We appreciate all of the time, energy and effort that Jeff and Jeff put into the team,” said Huntington. “Both are high-character, hard-working, good baseball men. We felt that this was the right time to take our Major League hitting program in a different direction.”

The Pirates finished tied for eighth in runs per game (4.30) among NL teams, just below the league average (4.37). Their .725 OPS was just above the league average (.722).

John Dreker
John Dreker
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball. When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.

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