Brewers Add Daniel Vogelbach To Coaching Staff
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.
Brewers Hire Al LeBoeuf As Lead Hitting Coach
The Brewers are shaking up their offensive staff. Milwaukee announced on Monday that they’ve promoted Al LeBoeuf to lead hitting coach. Milwaukee also promoted Eric Theisen to hitting coach. Theisen will work as a co-hitting coach with Connor Dawson, who is returning for a fourth season. Milwaukee has parted ways with former co-hitting coach Ozzie Timmons.
Milwaukee doesn’t technically have any assistant hitting coaches. It seems Dawson and Theisen will essentially work in that capacity while LeBoeuf gets the primary job. It’s the first major league coaching gig for the 64-year-old LeBoeuf, a longtime member of Milwaukee’s minor league ranks. He joined the organization as a Double-A hitting coach in 2010. LeBoeuf worked his way to Triple-A by 2012.
Unfortunately, he experienced crippling lower body pain that year. Testing revealed blood cancer in his left hip. As Adam McCalvy of MLB.com wrote in 2013, the cancer was traced back to a severe bone bruise he’d suffered when he was hit by a pitch while playing in the Phillies’ system back in the mid-1980s. The extremely rare condition slowed LeBouef’s rise up the minor league ranks, but he fortunately beat the disease and worked his way back to coaching Triple-A hitters by 2019.
LeBoeuf has held that role for the past six seasons. He told McCalvy this evening that he recently marked 10 years cancer free and is in “great” health (X link). He’ll now get a long-awaited chance to coach big league hitters. LeBoeuf has already worked with most of Milwaukee’s young core. Sal Frelick, Garrett Mitchell, Tyler Black and Brice Turang have all had recent stints in Triple-A. Jackson Chourio essentially skipped the top minor league level, though he did stop there for the final week of 2023.
In addition to his longtime work with Milwaukee, LeBoeuf has coached or managed in the minors with the Phillies, Mets, Royals and Blue Jays. As a player, he topped out at the Triple-A level with the Phils.
Theisen also worked as a co-hitting coach in Triple-A this past season. A former college pitcher with Illinois State, Theisen joined Milwaukee’s minor league ranks in 2021. He has spent the past three seasons as a minor league hitting coordinator in addition to his work as Triple-A hitting coach. This’ll be his first job on a major league staff.
Timmons moves on after three seasons. He had worked on Kevin Cash’s staff with the Rays for a few years before taking the Milwaukee job. The Brewers were an above-average offensive team this year. Milwaukee turned in a .246/.326/.403 batting line. They placed in the top 10 in batting average and on-base percentage while ranking 13th in slugging. They finished sixth in runs scored.