Rays hitting coach Chad Mottola's longevity a rarity amid MLB turnover
Chad Mottola has been the Tampa Bay Rays hitting coach since 2016, an outlier in a role with high turnover across the league.
CLEVELAND — Chad Mottola has been the Tampa Bay Rays hitting coach since September 2016, making him the longest-tenured person in that role in Major League Baseball.
Robert Van Scoyoc of the Los Angeles Dodgers, hired in November 2018, is the only other hitting coach to begin his run in the previous decade.
Twenty-two teams, including the Toronto Blue Jays, have changed their hitting coaches since the end of the 2024 season.
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"I know every night when a guy steps in the box, he's not trying to fail, he's not trying to swing at the slider in the dirt, so it's not the result that drives me," Mottola said.
Mottola, 55, credits his longevity to the Rays' organizational philosophy.
"Our philosophies with the Rays organization overall, of exploring, being encouraged to make mistakes by learning, don't stay safe all the time," he said.
Rays manager Kevin Cash said the hitting coach job may be the most challenging in baseball.
"Chad is really good at connecting with the guys," Cash said. "He has the ability to keep it really simple when it's needed, and he's got the ability to get really in-depth when it's needed."
Cash cited the volume of information available, the influence of third-party hitting coaches players see in the off-season and the need to understand different coaching verbiage as factors that complicate the role.
Mottola's own playing career, which spanned 16 years with eight organizations but only 59 major league games, informs his coaching approach.
He began his coaching career in the Blue Jays system, working his way up to the big-league club in 2013.
He was let go after that season when veteran assistant Dwayne Murphy retired, and he joined the Rays system before his promotion in 2016.
Mottola said Murphy was influential in his outlook on hitting, particularly the idea of pulling the ball in the air, which later became associated with launch angle.
"I got to not only live it as a player, I got live it as a coach and observe how it changed people's careers," Mottola said. "Cito Gaston and Dwayne Murphy were doing this far ahead of their time."
Advances in hitting technology have since helped validate his beliefs and given him tools to better assess hitters.
He said staying current with new metrics and ideas is essential, and he credits players for keeping him informed.
The Rays finished the 2024 season 12th in runs scored with 736.
They were second in batting average at .258, fifth in on-base percentage at .326, 15th in slugging at .402 and had the fewest strikeouts in the majors with 1,145.
Mottola and the Rays are set to play Game 4 of the American League Championship Series against the Cleveland Guardians on Friday.
With files from Sportsnet