The Brewers announced their coaching staff for the upcoming 2026 season, and includes a familiar name. Former major league first baseman Daniel Vogelbach, who played with the Brewers from 2020-21, has been hired as a hitting coach. That’s part of a broader shakeup of the hitting coach staff. Lead hitting coach Al LeBoeuf, who was away from the team for part of the 2025 season after a prostate cancer diagnosis, is not returning to the major league staff but is staying in the organization. Assistant hitting coach Eric Theisen has been elevated to the lead hitting coach role. Vogelbach and former Blue Jays hitting coach Guillermo Martinez (another new hire to the staff) will be Theisen’s assistants.
Further changes in the staff are afoot. Third base coach Jason Lane has been promoted to the title of “offense and strategy coordinator.” Infield coach Matt Erickson will now also be the club’s third base coach. Assistant pitching coach Jim Henderson is being promoted to the title of “pitching coordinator.” In his old assistant pitching coach role, the Brewers will elevate Juan Sandoval, who’d previously been a minor league pitching coach and coordinator.
Spencer Allen, who’d been Milwaukee’s director of player development, joins the major league staff as a first base coach, replacing Julio Borbon. Allen was the head coach at Northwestern prior to joining the Brewers organization prior to the 2022 season. Adam McCalvy of MLB.com reports that both Borbon and LeBoeuf are remaining in the Brewers’ organization in roles that have yet to be specified.
It’s a major shakeup of the coaching staff, though much of the turnover is due to internal promotions. Vogelbach is the most recognizable newcomer. He played in parts of nine major league seasons from 2016-24, hitting a combined .219/.340/.405 with 81 home runs in just under 2000 plate appearances. Vogelbach rarely hit for average but always possessed superlative pitch recognition (career 15.1% walk rate) and considerable raw power. This marks his first coaching assignment since concluding his playing career last offseason, when he joined the Pirates as a special assistant in their baseball operations department.
Martinez, 41, was the Blue Jays’ hitting coach from 2019-24. He’s spent several seasons as a minor league hitting coach and hitting coordinator with both the Jays and the Cubs. After departing Toronto’s major league staff following the 2024 season, he returned for a second stint in the Cubs’ ranks, serving as a hitting coach with their Double-A club. He’s now back in the majors with just the third organization as he heads into his 15th season of professional coaching.
Shocked he is not the eating/strength/fitness coach.
He’s the ozempic coordinator.
Vogelbach vs judge. Cage match. Who wins?
Why hire a guy who couldn’t hit or make adjustments to be a hitting coach? Seems odd to me.
Hi Unclemike1526,
The list below are all the fellas that served as head or assistant hitting coaches in MLB in 2025. Not many at all could hit. Chavez yes, could say yes to Pat the Bat, Bret for a few seasons in Seattle, Seitzer for a bit, but for the most part, doesn’t seem like MLB Brass uses the ability to hit as a prerequisite to teaching hitting.
Aaron Bates
Al LeBoeuf
Alec Zumwalt
Alex Cintron
Alex Pelaez
Ben Rosenthal
Bobby Magallanes
Brady North
Brandon Allen
Brant Brown
Bret Boone
Carlos Mendez
Chad Mottola
Chris Cron
Chris Johnson
Chris Valaika
Christian Marrero
Cody Asche
Connor Dawson
Damon Minor
Dan Puente
Darnell Coles
David Popkins
Derek Shomon
Dillon Lawson
Dustin Kelly
Dustin Lind
Eric Chavez
Eric Theisen
Grant Fink
Hugh Quattlebaum
Hunter Mense
James Rowson
Jason Esposito
Jeremy Barnes
Joe Dillon
Joe Mather
Joel McKeithan
John Mallee
Johnny Washington
Jordan Pacheco
Juan Cabreja
Justin Viele
Keith Beauregard
Keoni De Renne
Kevin Long
Kevin Seitzer
Lance Zawadzki
Lou Iannotti
Marcus Thames
Matt Borgschulte
Matt Hague
Michael Brdar
Mike McCoy
Nic Wilson
Oscar Bernard
Pat Burrell
Pat O’Sullivan
Pat Roessler
Pedro Guerrero
Peter Fatse
Rafael Pena
Rayden Sierra
Robert Van Scoyoc
Seth Conner
Sherman Johnson
Tim Hyers
Tommy Everidge
/Tommy Joseph
Travis Denker
Trevor Amicone
Troy Snitker
Vic Rodriguez
Will Remillard
Seems odd? The guy is a former Cub draft pick and the amount of transactions where the Brewers pick up Cubs old trash and recycle it and turn it into gold. Look at 2 guys on pitching staff with Zastryzny and Megill so I’m sure they will end up with at least 2 300 hitter next year and Ortiz might even get the ball out of the infield to save his career
Hey Rob Deer used to be a Brewers minor league hitting instructor. Teach them early!!!!!!!!!!!
Pasta Dish
You forgot Edgar Martinez I think he was an OK hitter. Heck he might be HOF material.
You took time to write all that, you definitely need to get a life..
Lots of hitting coaches were terrible at hitting during their careers. Vogelbach was excellent at plate discipline though. Career .340 OBP!
92-Judge wins. Unless Judge wears cinnamon roll cologne. Then he has no chance.
If there’s a milkshake involved then Vogelbach obviously.
Tyler O’Neill looks like he could win any cage match. That is if he doesn’t get injured on his way to the ring.
A guy who sucked is now coaching people lol. How to be a dominant hand swinging dead
Pull pos. Sucks for the brew crew
Did you know that most coaches weren’t actually world beaters? He has better MLB credentials than most.
Not only that, but some all-time great hitters weren’t exactly world-beating coaches. See: Carew, Rod. Esp his Brewer tenure: upi.com/Sports_News/2001/10/04/Carew-resigns-as-Br…
Glad he’s off the Pirates staff.
@pineywoodrooter have you heard the saying: “Those who can’t, teach”
Grab some pine.
Vogelbach is Wisconsin skinny.
Yes, he did so well as an assistant hitting coach with the Pirates last season, the team’s offense was near the bottom of every category in the league
They also had a pretty bad team though lol. Coaches help but they’re not Messiah’s going around casting miracles
I didn’t realize the coaches were the ones that actually performed. Why aren’t we electing hitting coaches to the hall of fame? Who cares about Tony Gwynn and Wade Boggs anyway?
@choof Tony Gwynn was also the head baseball coach at San Diego State, nice try.
Sb
“Tony Gwynn was also the head baseball coach at San Diego State, nice try.”
What does that have to do with choof’s comment?
Glad that Vogelbach is getting this opportunity. Did not realize he had retired. Hit 30 home runs in 2019 and was a all star. Never did steal a base, though.🙃
He did eat one though
Strikingly witty.
Yep, staying Puft, Dan the Marshmallow Man.
Loved Vogelbach as a Met. He actually hit well for a few months. There’s a place in baseball for overweight guys. Colon, Prince Fielder, Sabathia, love ’em.
Eric Gregg, John McSherry.
I’m with you. The numbers were fine for his half season here but he got a lot of crap because he wasn’t the DH some fans expected them to go out and get. Good guy who gave his all
He was arguably the worst DH in baseball during his time with the Mets in 22-23. This was also at a time when the NL first adapted the DH and there were ALOT of good DH options to pick from. And they wound up with Vogelbach….
Mets fans were right to give the organization a lot of crap for that.
Also, I’m not trying to tear your comment apart but you can’t be giving it “your all” when you’re a professional baseball player a cheeseburger away from diabetes.
Y4l
“you can’t be giving it “your all” when you’re a professional baseball player a cheeseburger away from diabetes”
1) at least he knew not to eat that cheeseburger
2) Muted. Enough jack[rabbits] who claim to be fans but insult players.
Dial it down. We can’t be all quite so perfect.
I didn’t mean to start a war Joel I’m sorry. I was merely trying to point out there were bench players on sub .500 teams that outperformed Vogelbach offensively for the Mets.
I know. For a while he got his walks and had a high obp but that didn’t last. And as I recall, there was no place on the field to hide him. Colorful guy.
@YFL22 No, you have valid points. What I meant what that the numbers he put up in that short period werent horrendous. 139OPS+, .830 OPS. I’m not blaming HIM is the point. It was the METS who failed to fill out that team with a decent DH. And I wa one of those people freaking out. We definitely needed someone better and there were better options. I’m speaking in retrospect
@yfl22 left this off my post – I meant the 2nd half playoff run of 22. Of course he was balls the following year
He did have a couple spurts that fueled his entire career (30 HR season early on with the M’s). I never blamed Vogelbach for that and it seems like neither did the fans but it was definitely a silly move that could’ve been addressed to strengthen that 2022 team. That 22’ team was probably their best iteration of the Alonso/Lindor Mets and the one Cohen should’ve went all gas on.
I mean he splurged, and Scherzer had another good season but his playoff start against the Pads was an absolute stinker when they needed a win
Yes, should have mentioned Wells.
Yeah, fat or thin, he did something only a very select few accomplish – wear a MLB uni AND earn millions playing a game.
Gotta give it to him he’s living the American dream….zero effort or thought AND rich. Jokes on the middle class being forced to line his pockets through the manipulation of the tax system to benefit billionaires I guess.
Start the revolution or just shut up and move to a communist country.
Your choice, “Yanks4life22”
I like billionaires.
lol move to a communist country because I don’t think Daniel Vogelbach was a very good hitter? Okay grandpa maybe it’s time to give your keys to your kids and sell the Buick in the driveway. WOW.
No, Yanks4life, it’s because you like to bellyache about rich people.
You can either hit a baseball or you can’t
Ahhh yes let me lay off that .0003% of the population that furthers their wealth with such moral endeavors. They only have armed security forces behind them capable of taking over countries so of course they need your help because they definitely can’t defend themselves.
Wealth is good! Hope you have some. Security forces, goodness me, sounds frightening! Getting ready for the workers to cast off their chains?
Oh you poor soul….the workers can never cast their chains the best we can do to solve that issue is to put a curtain over the scene. Why do you think we export our atrocities overseas? It’d be much harder to stomach your conveniences if you had to witness their processes in plain sight.
If Dan’s got the time Milwaukee has the beer.
I guess he didn’t realize it wasn’t Miller Park anymore!
I was pretty surprised to see he was still playing in 2024. Career 1.4 WAR.
The Brewers food budget just went up.
I figured he’d be the base running coach.
Team nutritionist
This just in: Brewers to have lower player payroll due to team buffet budget increase.
For those who never saw it, the Daniel Vogelbach-Buck Showalter commercial.
youtube.com/watch?v=ho8SYX9SvX0
He will teach the Brewers to annihilate the baseball while he annihilates the toilet.
Favorite memory is when he hit a triple for the Bucs. Thought he was gonna pass out on 3rd base. All 3 outfielders had Charlie horses at the same time to let it happen iirc.
Beer and donuts all around fellas! Let’s go!
He is a master at striking out!
Good on him, congrats on the new job.
The only plate that Vogelbach ever hit involves a fork, knife, and bib
Sounds like a good thing, since hitting the plate wouldn’t make much sense in a baseball context.
He doesn’t use a knife when he eats barbecue ribs. Or lobster….
One career triple, believe it or not.
That was the year they put third base between home and first
Great move! Vogey, team up with my man Christian Correa (bullpen catcher, former FM Redhawk) and destroy some buffets ⚾
Upper Midwest body type. Makes sense.
Which coordinator is he? Offensive or defensive? Or is he a pitching coordinator?
Career 219 hitter as a hitting coach. ? I guess that’s not any stranger than a NFL quarterback as hitting coach (the Royals had a hitting coach with the same name as an NFL Hall of Fame quarterback.He was obviously not THAT Terry Bradshaw)
RFAW
“Career 219 hitter as a hitting coach. ?”
What if, and stick with me, the skills needed to be a hitter who hits for a high average and the skills needed to be a good hitting coach are different?
Look at hitting coaches around the league, and you’ll see that the vast majority of them weren’t even as good as Vogelbach was during their playing careers.
Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach?
SF
“Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach?”
Always one of the dumbest sayings
Glad to see Vogelbach land on his feet. Wasn’t much of a player for the mets, liked him all the same though.
Suddenly every Brewers hitter will stop swinging the bat.
Brewers had the lowest swing rate in baseball last year at 45.0% already!
They led by quite a bit, actually.
Can we start a petition to make him our 3rd base coach? Would love to see him out there 162+ games