MIAMI – The Marlins are hiring Chris Hess and Corbin Day as assistant hitting coaches as part of a three-person hitting staff, sources told MLB.com on Nov. 4, while assistant hitting coach Derek Shomon was later named the White Sox hitting coach.
The Marlins did not confirm the news.
Hess, 30, served as the hitting coach for the Portland Sea Dogs, the Red Sox’s Double-A affiliate, over the past two seasons. Prior to that, he was the High-A Greenville Drive’s hitting coach in 2023 and a coach for the Sea Dogs (’22) and Single-A Fort Myers (’21). Before beginning his professional coaching career, Hess was an assistant coach for his alma mater at the University of Rhode Island after his playing career ended in 2019 in the independent league. An infielder, Hess had been a 17th-round selection of the Yankees in the 2017 MLB Draft, reaching as far as High-A.
In 2025, the Sea Dogs’ Opening Day roster featured just one position player (Jhostynxon Garcia) among MLB Pipeline’s Top 10 Red Sox prospects. Portland was toward the bottom of the Eastern League in various categories, including batting average (.223), on-base percentage (.305), slugging percentage (.342) and OPS (.647). In 2024, the Sea Dogs led the league in all of those statistics.
During Hess’ time with the Drive, the team ranked first in batting average, hits and doubles, second in triples and third in RBIs in the South Atlantic League while winning the title in ’23.
Day, who played collegiate baseball at Mount Mercy, never made it to pro ball. After three years as an assistant coach at Kirkwood Community College in Iowa, his pro coaching career began in 2023 as the hitting coach for hometown High-A Cedar Rapids of the Twins' organization. In '24, he moved up to Double-A Wichita in the same role before serving as "Advance Scout, Run Production" in a support role for the big league club in '25.
Cedar Rapids led the Midwest League in triples (41), homers (137), runs (694), walks (634), on-base percentage (.340) and OPS (.738) in 2023, while Wichita finished seventh of 10 Texas League teams in categories such as runs (623), average (.231), OBP (.324) and OPS (.697). Wichita drew the most walks (562) and slugged the fourth-most homers (123).
The Marlins most recently had three coaches on the hitting side in 2024 (John Mabry, Jason Hart and Bill Mueller).
"It's just an another voice, another set of hands, another person who can just provide a helpful perspective," president of baseball operations Peter Bendix told MLB.com at the General Managers Meetings. "And there's a lot going on, frankly, over the course of the season, over the course of a game, to have three different people, to be in three different spots, and to all be aligned on the same philosophy."
Miami won't be done making changes to its coaching staff since catching coach/assistant catching director/bullpen catcher Joe Singley took a field coordinator position with the Orioles and infield/baserunning/first-base coach Tyler Smarslok did the same with the Nationals, according to sources. Both Singley and Smarslok were in their first years with the Marlins' organization in 2025.
Shomon, who had also come over from the Twins' organization, spent the past season with the Marlins working alongside hitting coach Pedro Guerrero. Despite fielding the least-experienced club in the Majors, Miami ranked third in the National League in hits, with the most double-digit hit games, second in doubles and in the top five for multiple two-out offensive categories. The Marlins also led the Majors with nine pinch-hit home runs and 33 RBIs from pinch-hitters.