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Derek Dietrich is officially back with the Yankees as a coach. He can be seen above tearing a telephone pole out of the ground and terrifying Everson Pereira into lowering his chase rate.
A few weeks ago, when observant fans caught sight of a jacked mammoth that resembled Dietrich prowling around the cage beside Anthony Volpe, their eyes weren’t playing tricks on them. It turns out that Dietrich and Volpe have a lengthy history together, going all the way back to Double-A Somerset, so this wasn’t just some casual mentoring. Instead, the Yankees provided the funding because they wanted Dietrich back in the fold despite his inability to make the big league roster during his comeback attempt and his suspension for using stimulants.
Dietrich’s official position will be something that
Returning to the #Yankees, Derek Dietrich is already having an impact as the team’s coordinator of accountability and culture in spring.
Dietrich and I caught up last night. He explained his new position and talked about his 2022 suspension.
As NJ Advanced Media’s Max Goodman put it:
“The plan is for Dietrich to work in the cage with hitters, facilitate growth on defense with his positional versatility from his playing days and utilize a passion for weight training and sports performance to help players put their body in a better place to succeed physically.”
As corny as this all sounds, gaining the trust of more former players—and voices in general—whom the team’s young players currently look up to could be essential to creating the player development bridge that has been absent from this club for far too long. The Yankees appear closer when you include in Andy Pettitte’s official comeback and the official elevation of a seasoned analytics expert that Aaron Judge has faith in to help make sense of things in the clubhouse.