Coach (baseball)
They are assistants to the manager, who determines the starting lineup and batting order, decides how to substitute players during the game, and makes strategy decisions.
The wearing of uniforms continued even after the practice of playing managers and coaches waned; notable exceptions to this were Baseball Hall of Fame manager Connie Mack, who always wore a black suit during his 50 years at the helm of the Philadelphia Athletics, and Burt Shotton, manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers in the late 1940s, who wore a Dodger 200 cap and a team jacket over street clothes in the dugout.
After the widespread adoption of numbered uniforms in the early 1930s, Joe McCarthy, another Hall of Fame manager, wore a full uniform but no number on his back for the remainder of his career with the New York Yankees, then the Boston Red Sox.
The bench coach serves as an in-game advisor to the manager, offering situational advice, and exchanging ideas in order to assist the manager in making strategy decisions along with relaying scouting information from the front office to the players.
A hitting coach, as the name suggests, works with a team's players to improve their batting techniques and form.
They monitor players' swings during the game and over the course of the season, advising them when necessary between at bats on adjustments to make.
With the advent of technology, hitting coaches are increasingly utilizing video to analyze their hitters along with scouting the opposing pitchers.
Video has allowed hitting coaches to clearly illustrate problem areas in the swing, making the adjustment period quicker for the player being analyzed.
They assist in the direction of baserunners, help prevent pickoffs, and relay signals sent from the manager in the dugout to runners and batters.
Such duties include holding or sending runners rounding second and third bases as well as having to make critical, split-second decisions about whether to try to score a runner on a hit, sacrifice fly or error; additionally, they account for the arm strength of the opposing team's fielder and the speed and position of the baserunner.
Major League Baseball teams will have one or more person specifically assigned to each coaching position described above.
A coach is responsible for inspecting fields and equipment that is used for practice and competition to ensure it is safe.
Communication is key when dealing with youth baseball as being positive to other coaching staff, umpires, administrators and others shows that they have a players best interest at heart.
