Red Sox hitting coach Magadan has earned respect of players

He is in his first year as hitting coach of the Red Sox – and loving it.

Dave Magadan spent 2003 through June of 2006 as the roving hitting instructor for the San Diego Padres.

“The whole coaching chance came as a shock,” said Magadan. “I had just finished playing and along came the offer to stay in the game and before I knew it I was back in the majors.”

Dave Magadan knows about hitting. In his 16-year major league career he hit .288 and for 15 of those years he walked more than he struck out. He knew the strike zone and prided himself on making contact.

Magadan was a superb line-drive hitter. He knew what he could do and worked to do that better than anyone else. That is what he teaches now. It is not about changing hitters, but perfecting what they do best.

The Sox are listening, and that says a lot about Magadan.

“You can’t just say to them [Sox players] do this or do that. That will never work,” he said recently at Fenway.

“You have to earn their respect and they have to know you have a point to make, not just some general comment about hitting,” he continued.

Magadan spent the offseason reviewing video of every Red Sox batter, hours and hours of review. “When I talked to them, I wanted them to see that I knew about their swing, not just about what might be done to improve it, but what they did right.”

He has clearly crossed the bridge of respect in a hurry. That is clear from the attention the players show when discussing hitting around the cage and in the quick and concise help he offers.

Magadan especially likes to talk about Manny Ramirez. “I don’t know where the idea came from that he doesn’t work at the game,” said Magadan. “I have never seen anyone work harder at hitting than Manny does.”

“He watches a ton of video and he is always in the batting cages working. He listens and tries ideas I offer when he may be struggling,” said Magadan. “We found a little flaw in his timing mechanism and got that corrected and he made it work.”

Throughout Magadan’s baseball career he has been a relatively quiet guy, earnest in his interest in hitting, highly articulate, but one who usually spoke only if spoken to. He remains that way and will always be happy to do his job unnoticed.

As with all coaches, the results will speak volumes and Magadan will be happy to leave it that way.

It is no small matter that Magadan’s parents both came from Spain and he is fluent in Spanish. That came as a shock to many of the Sox who only met him this year.

That ability to communicate with the many Spanish-speaking players goes a long way to opening up those players to what he has to say.

Hitting coaches live and die by the averages of the guys with whom they work. Magadan fully understands that and is lucky to have a monster lineup.

Still, they will be better for having this new first-year coach helping.

Old Town native Gary Thorne is an ESPN and ABC sportscaster.