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The Dodgers are parting ways with co-hitting coach Aaron Bates this offseason, a source with knowledge of the situation confirmed to the California Post, marking an unexpected shake-up to a coaching staff the club had been planning to keep intact this winter.
Bates, 42, had been in the Dodgers’ organization for 12 years, first as a minor-league hitting coach before being promoted to the big-league staff in 2019 in an assistant hitting coach role. He was promoted again before the 2023 season to co-hitting coach alongside Robert Van Scoyoc, playing a key role in the club’s back-to-back World Series championships in 2024 and 2025.
At the start of the offseason, the Dodgers had been hoping to bring back their entire coaching staff, including Bates.
Last month, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said the team was “still working through things” with some of their coaches but expected the staff to remain “status quo.”
However, Bates and the Dodgers could not come to an agreement on a new multi-year contract to keep him in the organization, as MLB Trade Rumors first reported.
Van Scoyoc, meanwhile, is still expected to return next season, according to a source.
A former third-round draft pick as a player who briefly appeared in the majors with the Boston Red Sox during the 2009 season, Bates had climbed his way up the Dodgers’ organizational coaching ladder over the last dozen years. He was their rookie-ball hitting coach in 2015, their single-A hitting coach in 2016, their high-A hitting coach in 2017 and then their assistant minor-league hitting coordinator in 2018.
Since joining the Dodgers’ big-league staff, he had been part of all three of their recent World Series championships. He was promoted from assistant MLB hitting coach to his current role after Brant Brown left the organization following the 2022 campaign.
Under Bates and Van Scoyoc (who has been in his role since 2019), the Dodgers have boasted some of the most productive offensive numbers in the majors, leading the league in scoring, batting average and OPS over the last four seasons.
However, they have also endured extended second-half slumps each of the past two years, and struggled to find consistency in each of their last two postseasons.
In 2025, they won the World Series despite a .203 team batting average in their seven-game Fall Classic against the Toronto Blue Jays.
This October, they were smothered in the National League Championship Series by the Milwaukee Brewers, hitting only .185 in a four-game sweep.
In each of the last two years, Bates has also twice been forced to temporarily step away from the team because of health issues.
It was not immediately clear how wide a net the Dodgers might cast in attempting to fill Bates’ void, but they do have some potential internal candidates.
Game planning and communication coach JT Watkins has received rave reviews from players for his work with the offense in recent seasons. Triple-A hitting coach Dylan Nasiatka and Double-A hitting coach Blake Gailen have also helped develop several top prospects who figure to get opportunities in the majors over the next couple years.
