After Turner Ward and Chris Woodward left the team without a hitting coach and third base coach, the Los Angeles Dodgers appear to have filled the vacancies.
Bill Plunkett of the OC Register reports that the team is set to hire Dino Ebel as their third base coach. Ebel has spent the last 14 seasons with Mike Scioscia in Anaheim, serving in the same capacity and as a bench coach. The 52-year-old began his professional baseball career with the Dodgers as an infielder before transitioning into a minor league coach and manager.
As for hitting coach, the team is also going to a familiar face in Robert Van Scoyoc, says Pedro Moura of the Athletic. Van Scoyoc was most recently the hitting strategist for the Arizona Diamondbacks. He was previously a hitting consultant for the Dodgers. The 32-year-old has worked with several players on revamping their swing in recent years, most notably JD Martinez and the Dodgers’ own Chris Taylor. Van Scoyoc is a proponent of putting the ball in the air so the offense’s power numbers shouldn’t take a dip.
The expected hires leave the Dodgers with two more spots on the coaching staff: assistant hitting coach (should they choose to hire one), and game planning and communications coach. Also, the team is in need of a GM after Farhan Zaidi left for the San Francisco Giants.
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