Reds dismiss hitting coaches as staff shakeup continues

The Reds and new manager Terry Francona must still work through forming a coaching staff, but there will be some coaches from David Bell’s staff who will not be returning.

All three hitting coaches -- Joel McKeithan and assistants Terry Bradshaw and Tim LaMonte -- were fired, president of baseball operations Nick Krall revealed on Tuesday.

“We felt a change was needed at the end of the day, a new voice in that group, a new collective voice for our players to improve,” Krall said.

The Reds, who finished with a 77-85 record, ranked 26th in the Majors with a .231 team batting average and 16th with 699 runs. The team had 16 shutout losses, including four 1-0 losses, and a 15-28 record in one-run games.

McKeithan joined the big league coaching staff as an assistant hitting coach before the 2022 season, and was promoted the following year. Bradshaw and LaMonte came on board before 2023.

For the next hitting coach and assistants, the club will be looking for a balance of experience and other factors like approach vs. swing.

“We need to make more contact, take better at-bats,” Krall said. “You want line drive hitters in this ballpark because line drives are going to go out of this ballpark. I want hitters to have the approach that you can use the whole field and hit line drives and take good at-bats. That’s more important for us than power, especially in this ballpark.”

In addition to Bell, the Reds have now let go four other coaches, as the club also dismissed game planning and infield coach Jeff Pickler on Sept. 23.

Pitching coach and director of pitching Derek Johnson, who is under contract already, will be back next season. As for others who could return, that is not yet clear.

“We will be keeping some guys. We’re just not there yet,” Krall said.

Krall, general manager Brad Meador and Francona have already held meetings about what the coaching staff will look like for next season.

“[Francona] has been adamant about having a collaborative process with us, which has been a lot of fun kicking around names,” Krall said.

Aguiar has torn UCL, out for 2025
Right-handed starting pitcher Julian Aguiar has a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow that could require Tommy John surgery. He is expected to get a second opinion that will determine whether ne needs the procedure. He will miss the 2025 season.

Ranked as the organization’s No. 11 prospect by MLB Pipeline, Aguiar was scratched from his final start in Cleveland and placed on the injured list Sept. 24. At the time, interim manager Freddie Benavides said the 23-year-old felt something in his elbow throwing during a side session after his last start.

In a 15-3 loss to the Braves on Sept. 19, Aguiar allowed a career-high seven earned runs over four-plus innings with six hits, two walks, four strikeouts and two home runs.

Aguiar made 31 starts with 148 innings split between Double-A, Triple-A and the big leagues this past season. He went 2-1 with a 6.25 ERA in seven starts with the Reds.