Greg Brown got one season as the Cubs’ hitting coach, continuing a pattern of turnover at the position over the last decade.
Brown will not return next season. He was offered another position within the organization but decided to seek other opportunities.
The Cubs will promote Dustin Kelly from minor-league hitting coordinator to major-league hitting coach. He will be the eighth coach to hold the position since 2012. Kelly spent two seasons as the Cubs’ minor-league hitting coordinator after three seasons as a minor-league hitting coach in the Dodgers’ farm system.
The Cubs ranked 22nd in the majors this season in runs (657), a year after trading away their offensive championship core at the deadline. They were in the bottom half of the league in team batting average (.238), on-base percentage (.311) and slugging percentage (.387).
“It’s not going to work out for every player to have their career years [the same season],” Brown said during the last series of the season. “And if they do, we’ll probably win the championship that time. But when it comes down to being able to set the expectations and the standards we’re trying to achieve, well, I think that’s been done in Year 1. And I think that’s a success.”
This was Brown’s first year on a major-league coaching staff. The lockout stifled his ability to contact his new players for much of the offseason, and he had a condensed spring training to get to know them better.
“I made mistakes of trying to help without creating that relationship first,” Brown said. “That’s been a large portion of my learning curve throughout [this season]. That’s something you take away and go, ‘Moving forward, how do I not make that mistake again?’ ’’
Canario injured in winter league
Outfield prospect Alexander Canario broke his left ankle and dislocated his left shoulder while playing in the Dominican Winter League, a source confirmed Friday.
The Cubs’ ninth-ranked prospect, according to MLB Pipeline, Canario was coming off a breakout season in which he climbed from High-A South Bend to Triple-A Iowa. Canario, 22, led the farm system with 37 home runs, the second-most in the minors, trailing only Cardinals prospect Moises Gomez (39).
