Mets Hire Jeff Albert as Hitting Coach, Kai Correa as Bench Coach

The Mets have filled two of their coaching positions: Jeff Albert as hitting coach and Kai Correa as bench coach.

Jeff Albert to Lead Hitting Program

Jeff Albert, who has been serving as the director of hitting development since 2023, will be in charge of the major league team’s hitting program next season. As was first reported by Jeff Passan of ESPN, Albert is expected to be complemented with another hitting coach, who will report to him.

 

Albert served as the hitting coach for the Cardinals before joining the Mets. Before he held that job, he was in the Astros’ organization, where his time overlapped with David Stearns, who spent three years as the team’s assistant general manager.

Despite a disappointing season from the big club, the Mets’ minor league organization was lauded this season. Their farm system was ranked first by ESPN this past summer. In terms of farm system hitting rankings, the Mets finished the season 11th, according to Baseball America.

Albert is replacing hitting coaches Eric Chavez and Jeremy Barnes. The two served as co-hitting coaches the last two seasons and Chavez made news criticizing the practice last week on Foul Territory, saying, “Players get confused when there are multiple voices.” However, almost every team has multiple hitting coaches.

Albert, a native New Yorker from Rochester, never played in the major or minor leagues but had a cup of coffee in the independent leagues in 2003 and 2007.

Kai Correa Joins Mendoza’s Side

Correa will be the Mets’ new bench coach, according to Pat Ragazzo.

The 37-year-old spent the last two years with Cleveland, originally hired as their major league field coordinator, then in addition as their “defense, baserunning, & game strategy” director. He held many hats and will seem to bring a well-rounded coaching resume to the team. He was previously Gabe Kapler’s bench coach in San Francisco from 2020 to 2023.

Correa is from Hawaii and played four years of college ball at the University of Puget Sound.

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