January 4, 2023

By Kevin Glew

Canadian Baseball Network

Matt Hague will join the Toronto Blue Jays staff as assistant hitting coach.

Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins made the announcement during a conference call with reporters on Wednesday.

Hague, whose father Paul was born in Toronto, had drawn rave reviews for his work with Davis Schneider, Ernie Clement, Spencer Horwitz, Orelvis Martinez, Nathan Lukes and Rafael Lantigua as hitting coach with the triple-A Buffalo Bisons in 2023.

The 38-year-old Hague originally joined the Blue Jays organization as a hitting coach in 2020.

The Blue Jays’ offence struggled in 2023 under hitting coach Guillermo Martinez. But in a somewhat surprising decision, the club has retained Martinez, but have added Hague, as well as title of offensive coordinator to Don Mattingly’s position with the club.

The team’s former hitting strategist Dave Hudgens has been reassigned within the organization.

Prior to his coaching career, Hague played 10 games for the Blue Jays in 2015 and went 3-for-12 (.250 batting average). He also had big league stints with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2012 and 2014.

In all, in 10 seasons in the affiliated minor league ranks, he batted .298 with a .374 on-base percentage, with 90 home runs, in 1,118 games.

He also played 65 games with the Hanshin Tigers in Japan in 2016.