Yankees hitting coach Marcus Thames getting weary as team struggles

Back in May 2011, when Kevin Long was in the fifth year of his eight-year run as Yankees’ hitting coach and the lineup at the time was skidding a bit, the baseball lifer discussed the impact an offensive slump had on him.

"Very personal," Long said. "It's my job. It's my livelihood. It's kind of what allows me to sleep at night or not sleep at night. It seems like there's always a guy or two that's struggling, and my job is to get him on track as quick as possible. So when they struggle, I struggle. I feel their pain and I feel what they're going through. If I didn't feel that, then something would be wrong."

Marcus Thames can empathize.

Only the Yankees current hitting coach – one of Long’s hitters in 2010 – has a lot more than "a guy or two" struggling.

Seemingly, for much of this season, it’s been pretty much the entire lineup, the reason the Yankees entered Tuesday night tied for second-to-last in the American League in runs (202), 11th in batting average (.229) and 13th out of 15 teams in slugging (.371).

"Look at my eyes, I’ve got bags under them, I don't sleep," Thames said with a weary smile Tuesday afternoon when some of the comments of Long, the current Nationals hitting coach who won a title with Washington in 2019, were relayed to him. "It is [personal] and I tell guys this all the time: I’m in every pitch with these guys; every single pitch from pitch No. 1 to the last pitch of the game. And you feel it because you know how hard they're working and how much preparation they're doing."

Thames has been under fire from the fan base much of the season, especially of late. Monday’s 3-1 loss to the Rays marked the sixth time in their last seven games – and ninth time in their last 12 – the Yankees were held to two runs or fewer.

"Of course it wears on you a little bit, but that's what we signed up for," Thames said. "That’s what you sign up for to be the hitting coach here in New York and it comes with territory when guys are struggling. You hear a lot of heat or whatever, but at the same time you’ve got to keep working because I believe in those guys in that room."

Thames, as he indicated, is aware of the criticism and understands it is part of the job. But he pushed back on one element: the thought the Yankees encourage an all-or-nothing, homer-or-bust approach at the plate. The Yankees went into Tuesday ranked 11th in the AL with runners in scoring position (.238) and 14th in OPS with runners in scoring position (.661).

"I know people think we're just preaching hit home runs, that's not what we're preaching," Thames said. "We're preaching, ‘you get a ball in your zone, you hit it hard.’ Do what the game calls for. A guy gets [on] third base and less than two outs, we’ve got to get that guy in. I put a lot of pride in that, and our guys do, too. It's just not happening for us, but that message is being sent."

Offense, of course, is down throughout the sport, and has been trending that way, and the reason given by many in the game – scouts, players, coaches, just about everyone – is the sheer number of pitchers that can throw 100 mph but also rip off an array of filthy sliders, curveballs and changeups.

"I hear this all the time, I hear guys saying, ‘well, guys are throwing harder, the stuff is nasty,’ or whatever, but I still feel like we're getting pitches to hit and we're missing them, and we can't do that…We can’t make excuses. For me, that’s just an excuse."

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.