Cubs hire Anthony Iapoce as hitting coach

The Cubs last week dismissed Chili Davis after just one year as hitting coach.

Per this report from Jeff Wilson in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the Cubs have a new hitting coach, Anthony Iapoce:

Put another coaching search on the Texas Rangers’ to-do list.

Hitting coach Anthony Iapoce has informed the club that he is leaving for the same post with the Chicago Cubs, a source said on Monday.

The Rangers hired Iapoce after the 2015 season from the Cubs, for whom he had served as an assistant to the general manager in charge of their minor-league hitting program.

The Rangers fired manager Jeff Banister after the 2018 season and told the coaching staff they could look elsewhere for work, and Iapoce didn’t waste any time. This report has also been confirmed by other beat writers:

As noted above, Anthony Iapoce was the Cubs’ minor league hitting coordinator for three seasons from 2013-15 before joining the Rangers in 2016. As such, he worked with quite a number of the current Cubs, including Anthony Rizzo, Javier Baez, Albert Almora Jr., Willson Contreras and Kris Bryant.

Iapoce has another interesting Cubs connection:

So maybe this is a statement that the Cubs are going to go back to the hitting philosophy they had in John Mallee’s three years as hitting coach:

Anthony Iapoce was a 33rd-round pick of the Brewers in 1994 and played 11 minor-league seasons in the Brewers and Marlins organizations and two years in indy ball before getting into coaching. Before coming to the Cubs in 2013, he was a roving hitting coordinator in the Blue Jays organization from 202. Sounds like a good addition to the staff who’s already familiar with many current Cubs players.

The Cubs say they’ll have an announcement about the rest of the coaching staff at a later date. This hints that other changes might be coming.