The Milwaukee Brewers have brought back Darnell Coles to the organization to serve as their new hitting coach, the team announced Thursday.
Coles spent four seasons working in the Brewers' farm system from 2010-13 before joining the Detroit Tigers' staff as assistant hitting coach. The 52- year-old served as Milwaukee's minor league hitting coordinator for two years before managing the club's Double-A affiliate in Huntsville in 2012 and 2013.
He had been slated to manage the Brewers' Triple-A team in Nashville last season until taking the Tigers' offer.
Coles replaces Johnny Narron, whose dismissal at the end of the season was triggered by Milwaukee's collapse during the second half.
The Brewers owned a 6 1/2-game lead atop the National League Central in late June, but went 31-48 the rest of the way and wound up third in the division and out of the playoffs.
Milwaukee's offense particularly struggled down the stretch, with the team averaging a mere 2.7 runs per game in September.
Coles helped Detroit top the majors in batting average (.277) and rank second in both on-base percentage (.331) and slugging percentage (.426) during his lone year with the team.
[SportsNetwork.com]
