CHICAGO -- The Cubs brought Anthony Iapoce back to the organization three seasons ago as hitting coach to reconnect with a core group he helped develop. After a season of drastic change, Chicago is moving in a different direction.

On Wednesday, Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer announced that the team had "moved on" from Iapoce as its hitting coach, though it was an amicable and mutual parting of ways. Hoyer also noted that longtime coach Mike Borzello (the team's associate pitching, catching and strategy coach) will not be returning to manager David Ross' staff in 2022.

"The bulk of the staff will certainly be back," Hoyer said. "I think that our staff did a really terrific job this year, grinding through a really difficult year where -- thanks to trades, thanks to COVID, thanks to injuries, etc. -- we used more players than anyone's used in the history of this game. I think they deserve a lot of credit."

Iapoce spent the past three seasons as the Cubs' hitting coach, following three years in the same role for the Texas Rangers. Prior to that stint with Texas, he worked within the Cubs' system as a Minor League hitting instructor.

It was that familiarity with core stars such as Javier Báez, Kris Bryant and others -- a group that struggled as a collective unit down the stretch in 2018 -- that helped convince Chicago to bring Iapoce to the Major League staff.

This season, the Cubs traded Báez (Mets), Bryant (Giants) and Anthony Rizzo (Yankees) in a franchise-altering dismantling of the core at the July 30 Trade Deadline. That followed parting ways with slugger Kyle Schwarber last offseason.

During that flurry of moves at this summer's Deadline, video captured Bryant giving Iapoce a hug in the visitors' dugout at Nationals Park shortly after receiving the news of his trade to San Francisco.

"'Poce, if anyone knows him, he's a fantastic human being," Hoyer said. "At the end of this year, I think both sides sort of realized that this was the right time to make that break."

Borzello had been a part of the Cubs' staff since 2012, working with the catchers and pitching staff to form run prevention strategies. During his tenure with Chicago, Borzello became a key part of the team's pitching infrastructure, and the 2016 World Series title marked the fifth ring of his coaching career.

"He's done so much for the organization," Hoyer said. "But I think both sides kind of felt like 10 years was the right amount of time. I have no doubt he'll land on his feet and do great things. I couldn't be more thankful for what he did here."

In a season during which the Cubs used an MLB-record 69 players, Iapoce essentially worked with two rosters: One before the Deadline and another after.

Overall, Chicago hit .237/.312/.407 with 705 runs scored (11th in the National League) and a 26.7 percent strikeout rate (15th). That said, the new-look Cubs improved after August, hitting .253/.320/.427 as a team after the Deadline.

In September and October, the Cubs turned in a .789 OPS, which ranked third in the NL behind only the playoff-bound Giants (.824) and Cardinals (.799). That included the NL's second-best average (.265), third-best on-base percentage (.343) and fifth-ranked slugging percentage (.446).

Following the wave of trades, the offense under Iapoce received unexpected contributions from the likes of Frank Schwindel, Patrick Wisdom and Rafael Ortega. Ian Happ also enjoyed a resurgence down the stretch.

Schwindel (1.002 OPS in 56 games) was the NL's Rookie of the Month for August and September, while Wisdom ended the year with the franchise single-season rookie record for homers (28). Happ had a .619 OPS through July, but he finished with a career-best 25 homers on the year and a .944 OPS from August through the rest of the season.

This past season was Iapoce's first working alongside assistant hitting coach Chris Valaika, who replaced Terrmel Sledge in that role. In fact, Chicago has had 12 coaches combined in the hitting coach or assistant hitting coach positions over the past 10 seasons.

Hoyer noted that Valaika would return as part of the '22 staff, but would not comment on him possibly being a candidate for the main hitting coach job.

"Val did a great job for us," Hoyer said. "He's going to be back in uniform for us, for sure. We're going to do a search. I think whenever you do a search process, you learn a lot. I don't want to comment on Val's status for that, but certainly he's going to be a big part of our hitting infrastructure."