If you’re looking for the latest and greatest in New York
Yankees trivia rest assured that this question will be asked eventually. Who
was the first assistant hitting coach to be hired by the New York Yankees? The
answer is Alan Cockrell as he was hired for the 2015 season to back up Jeff
Pentland. Let’s meet the man and see just what he has to bring to the table in
the Bronx.
Cockrell is a former major league outfielder that dabbled in
both football and baseball as a player before jumping into coaching. Cockrell
attended the University of Tennessee where he was an All-American outfielder
for the baseball team and the starting quarterback for the football team.
Cockrell suffered a significant knee injury as a QB and was never the same for
the Volunteers football team and ultimately left the school before his senior
season to enter the MLB First Year Player’s Draft.
The San Francisco Giants made Cockrell the ninth pick
overall in the 1984 draft but unfortunately Cockrell never met the high
expectations that seemingly followed him around. Cockrell spent nine seasons in
the minor leagues with five different organizations, the longest coming when he
spent five seasons with the Colorado Springs Sky Sox, before making his major
league debut with the Colorado Rockies on September 7, 1996. Billy Wagner
struck him out in his first at bat but three days later Cockrell would extract
his revenge when he roped a pinch hit double off Tom Glavine for his first major
league hit. Nine games later Cockrell’s major league career was over for good.
Cockrell spent the next few seasons in various positions in
the Rockies organization before being named the hitting coach for the Rockies
before the 2007 season. During that 2007 season the Rockies slugged their way
to a national League Championship and a World Series appearance against the
Boston Red Sox. That season Colorado led the NL in batting average, OBP and
total hits. The Rockies could not follow up that success in 2008 which resulted
in Cockrell’s firing. Cockrell latched on with the Seattle Mariners for the
2009 season as their hitting coach but lasted just a year and a half before
being fired once again. Now Cockrell is the assistant hitting coach to the
Yankees and we welcome him to the family with open arms.
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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)