After conducting interviews throughout November, the Cincinnati Reds hired Joel McKeithan as their assistant hitting coach and finalized their Major League coaching staff for the 2022 season Monday.
McKeithan, 30, spent one season as the Detroit Tigers’ minor-league hitting coordinator before joining the Reds. He was a minor-league hitting coach in the Philadelphia Phillies farm system in 2019 and he has a background from the data-driven Driveline facility as a player and a coach.
The Reds were searching for an assistant hitting coach after Joe Mather was hired as the lead hitting coach by the Arizona Diamondbacks. Mather previously spent five seasons working on the D-Backs’ player development staff.
McKeithan overlapped with Reds pitching coach Derek Johnson when he played at Vanderbilt from 2011-13. McKeithan, an Asheville, North Carolina native, played in an independent league in 2017 and ’18 before moving into a full-time coaching role.
In addition to assistant hitting coach, McKeithan received an offensive coordinator title. It’s a new title to Major League coaching staffs, but it means McKeithan will oversee the organization’s hitting program from the minor leagues to Majors.
McKeithan will be the Reds’ third assistant hitting coach under manager David Bell. Donnie Ecker was hired after one season as the San Francisco Giants’ hitting coach. Ecker is now a bench coach and offensive coordinator for the Texas Rangers.
The Reds added Kyle Arnsberg, 31, to their Major League coaching staff as an assistant coach. Arnsberg was the game planning coach at Double-A Chattanooga this year. He worked at the team’s alternate site in 2020 when he was supposed to work as a video/technology assistant at Triple-A Louisville before the pandemic canceled the minor-league season.
Arnsberg was a player development associate for the Phillies’ Triple-A affiliate in 2019 where he produced advance scouting materials for players.
Rolando Valles, entering his fourth year on Bell’s staff, is now an assistant coach after spending his first three seasons as an associate coach. Valles is the team’s main left-handed pitcher for batting practice, too. Bullpen catcher Nate Irving, who helped with advance scouting, is now the game planning/bench coach at Chattanooga.
MINOR SIGNING: The Reds, in need of Major League catching depth after trading Tucker Barnhart, signed catcher Aramis Garcia to a minor-league deal with a non-roster invitation to spring training.
Garcia, who will turn 29 in January, appeared in 32 games with the Oakland A’s this year. He’s received 193 career big-league at-bats over three seasons with a .218 batting average, nine homers and 21 RBI.
A right-handed hitter, Garcia will compete for a spot to backup Tyler Stephenson. Mark Kolozsvary is the only other catcher on the Reds’ 40-man roster.
Garcia, a second-round pick in the 2014 MLB Draft by the Giants, hit .268 in 112 at-bats at Triple-A last season with two homers and 15 RBI.
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