Richard John Down (December 14, 1950 – January 5, 2019) was an American professional baseball hitting coach.

[1] Down never made the majors as a player, making it only to AAA ball (1971 and 1973).

He went to professional baseball in 1985–88 as a special assignment coach and roving hitting instructor for the Angels organization.

He returned to the Yankees organization in 1989, beginning the season as the club’s roving minor league hitting instructor before being promoted to manager at Triple-A Columbus for the final 16 games of the season when Bucky Dent was named manager of the Yankees.

In 1990, his Double-A Albany club was at a 24-21 mark when he was promoted to manage Columbus in June after Stump Merrill was named Yankees manager.