7:47 pm: Claiborne or Druchel will be the Yankees’ new bullpen coach, SNY’s Andy Martino reports.
6:53 pm: Desi Druchel will return to the Yankees as an assistant to pitching coach Matt Black, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports. He serves in the same role from 2022-24 and is now back in the Bronx after one year as the Mets’ assistant pitching coach. Druchel was not fired by the Mets, but Passan wrote that the team allowed him to talk to other teams about the job.
The Mets coaching staff has made considerable changes this month since the team’s disappointing season ended. Druchel joins bench coach John Gibbons, pitching coach Jeremy Hefner, hitting coaches Eric Chavez and Jeremy Barnes, infield coach Mike Sabo and retired catching coach Glenn Sherlock as members of the 2025 staff, but they will not return in 2026. Two vacancies have been filled, with Amazon hiring Kai Correa as Carlos Mendoza’s new bench coach and Jeff Albert being named to the 2025 staff. The team has a new MLB hitting director (still to hire a more traditional hitting coach).
Hefner’s departure is the first sign of an overhaul in the pitching department, so it’s no surprise that Druchel is on the way as well. The Mets’ rotation and bullpen were the main reasons for the team’s poor second-half performance, as injuries and inefficiency made it difficult for the Amazons to find enough arms to finish games, let alone effectively post results. With 46 different players on the field for the 2025 Mets, the team ranks 18th with a 4.04 team ERA — after the All-Star break, the Mets’ 4.74 team ERA ranked sixth in baseball.
Of course, it’s unfair to place the blame entirely on the coaching staff, and clearly the Mets’ pitching woes didn’t stop Druchel from quickly finding a job back with his old club. Druchel, 50, had a long college coaching career that included serving as director of operations and pitching coach for the Iowa State baseball program before being hired by the Yankees in 2019 as minor league pitching development manager.
Last winter, Preston Claiborne was hired as Druschel’s replacement as assistant pitching coach. It’s unclear whether the Yankees will retain those two as Black’s assistants or whether Clayborn is likely to leave. In other Yankees coaching news, first base/infield coach Travis Chapman, bullpen coach Mike Harkey and assistant hitting coach Pat Roesler are leaving (although Roesler could return in another job), and former hitting coordinator Jake Hurst will join Druchel on Aaron Boone’s new staff.
