Mets hitting controversy continues even after firing of Eric Chavez

Here we go again.

The Mets’ recently fired hitting coaches have once again become a lightning rod for controversy. Even though he lost his job as the Mets’ hitting coach last week, Eric Chavez’s appearance on “Foul Territory” got him in the news. To recap, an SNY.com employee took an anecdote from Chavez’s Thursday appearance on the show, using it to write a story around it, which was then posted to social media with a headline that did not reflect the accuracy of what Chavez said.

Chávez was rightly angry and took to his Instagram stories about it.

The story was published on X with the caption: “Eric Chavez tried to change Juan Soto’s approach during the slugger’s first season with the Mets.” The anecdote used was a discussion between Chavez and manager Carlos Mendoza, about how Soto throws early in counts.

“I’ll be honest, there were times where myself and I even talked to Carlos about if we could get him to score maybe 0-0 or on some pitches that he could do some damage on early in the count,” Chavez told the hosts. “But Juan, he’s a precision hitter, I wouldn’t take him out of his comfort zone at all.”

It’s not exactly “changing Soto’s approach” at the plate.

Writer John Flanigan didn’t necessarily do anything wrong. In journalistic terms, this story is considered an aggregation. When aggregating from another source, like quotes from a show or podcast appearance, you need to give proper attribution — which he did by linking to the interview clip and explaining where the quote came from. Additional information, such as statistics, has also been included.

However, Chávez is not wrong to say that this story was misleading.

Chavez was responding to a question from former MLB catcher Erik Kratz about whether or not he would suggest Soto try to swing at pitches outside the zone. Kratz asked if a hitter in the middle of the lineup could theoretically put up 130 runs if he never swings at pitches out of the zone.

This sounds like a conversation Chávez and Mendoza had that never came to fruition. The Mets had information on how teams were trying to pitch Soto, and it’s the coaches’ job to make suggestions and come up with new ideas based on the information provided, especially when the team is not performing to its capabilities.

Additionally, while Soto finished with numbers typical of what we’re used to seeing from the superstar slugger, he started slowly. Soto hit just .241 in March and April, and .219 in May with a .345 on-base percentage. Part of that was luck – as Chavez mentioned earlier in the interview – as evidenced by Soto’s .211 BaBIP in May.

Fans were ready to rage when Soto looked at the strikes that were called early in the season. For some reason, they clung to Chavez, blaming him for everything that was wrong with the Mets’ offense, even though Barnes and Mendoza also took a lot of pressure. The coach was regularly attacked on social media and frequently fought back, further angering fans.

Players were unhappy with the way Chavez or even his co-coach, Jeremy Barnes, were treated by fans. They felt fans didn’t understand how difficult their job was.

For what it’s worth, I asked JD Martinez last year if he was interested in becoming a hitting coach. At the time, he didn’t, mainly because, well, East hard work, but also because he was still playing and hoped to continue playing.

Another thing to note from Chavez in the interview: He felt that two hitting coaches was too many. Initially, the Mets liked how Chavez and Barnes each brought different perspectives and philosophies. For the most part, this remained the case in 2025, but it also led to a problem of too much information that became difficult for players to digest. There have been some thoughts about this throughout the season.

This might have been one of those things that wasn’t a problem when they were winning, but once the losing started and the Mets were desperate for answers, it became a thing.

Ultimately, Soto had a fantastic season, going nearly 40-40 and leading all of baseball with 127 walks. Soto praised Chavez and Barnes, but that doesn’t matter since they won’t be back next season anyway.

“The coaches are definitely advising us, and they’re definitely trying to help us, and they’re trying to do their best and give us all the information they can,” outfielder Brandon Nimmo said before the season ended. “At the end of the day, it comes down to us and us executing. So I think the onus is on us as players.”