Marlins hire former Yankees hitting coach for same role. And one staffer dropped

The Marlins moved quickly to fill their open hitting coach job on Tuesday, hiring former Yankees hitting coach Dillon Lawson to replace Pedro Guerrero, who was dismissed late last month after two years on the job.

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Lawson, 41, joined the Marlins this past July as roving hitting coach after working as Boston’s major league assistant hitting coach for two seasons and Boston’s minor league hitting coordinator in 2024. The Red Sox fired manager Alex Cora and five members of Cora’s staff (including Lawson) this past April after Boston opened the season 10-17.

Lawson previously was the Yankees’ major league hitting coach (2022 and 2023) and minor league hitting coordinator (2019-2020).

The Yankees fired him after a loss to the Cubs in July 2023; at the time, the Yankees had a .231 batting average, third worst in baseball.

“Our offense has struggled mightily, more so than I can recall,” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said at the time. “The team that we have, in fairness to Dillon, we have had some injuries without a doubt but collectively we really have struggled, and we’re best served kind of changing things up a little bit as we move into the second half.”

In Lawson’s first season as hitting coach, New York was second in runs with 807 and led the majors with 254 homers (led by Aaron Judge’s AL-record 62) and finished tied for 15th in batting average (.241).

During the postseason under Lawson, New York batted .173 (49-for-284) with 103 strikeouts in nine games against Cleveland and Houston.

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Lawson was the first Yankees hitting coach to be fired during a season this century. With the Marlins, he will report to director of hitting Joe Migliaccio; Lawson hired Migiaccio when Lawson worked for the Yankees.

Lawson was a catcher and first baseman at Transylvania University but did not play minor league baseball. After graduating, he coached at Lindenwood University, IMG Academy, Morehead State and Southeast Missouri University, then became a coach in the Astros’ minor league system in 2016.

Under Guerrero’s guidance, the Marlins finished sixth in on-base percentage, tied for ninth in OPS (on-base plus slugging) but 18th in runs.

Also, the Marlins announced they are parting ways with head strength and conditioning coach Daniel Vega. His contract was not renewed. A source said his departure had nothing to do with the volume of player games missed due to injuries.

Vega, who held the job for two years, previously was the assistant strength and conditioning coach with the Milwaukee Brewers.

Marlins president/baseball operations Peter Bendix previously announced that Clayton McCullough will return as manager next season.

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This story was originally published October 12, 2026 at 12:31 PM.