Yanks still seeking hitting coach

Chili Davis preferred to Boston hitting-coach job to the Yankees’. (USATSI)

Chili Davis’ decision to take the Red Sox hitting coach job over one the same job with the Yankees was a coup for Boston and left the rival Yankees still in search mode.

Davis, a star as a hitting coach with the A’s who won two of his three World Series rings with the Yankees, took the Boston job for three main reasons:

• Boston bosses Ben Cherington and Co. gave him his first full-time coaching job at Triple-A Pawtucket after the Dodgers first used him on a part-time basis.

• He is familiar with some of the Red Sox’s younger players from his Pawtucket days, plus Yoenis Cespedes, who was traded to Boston at the deadline.

• His wife, who has family in Boston, preferred Boston (though Davis has family on Long Island).

In this rare winter oif hitting-coach intrigue, the Yankees and Mets are among teams still looking, though ex-Met Dave Magadan, who has been hitting for the Red Sox and Rangers, is no longer a candidate for the Yankees job. His interview apparently did not go as well as hoped, as he told the New York Post. James Rowson, a Yankees minor-league coach, is one name that has been mentioned, but candidates seem either scarce or secret.

Magadan and ex-Yankees hitting coach Kevin Long remain in the running for the Mets job, while the A’s and Rangers are still looking for a hitting coach. Dave Hansen, the assistant hitting coach with the Angels, was said to be a candidate for Oakland’s job by the San Francisco Chronicle.

Meanwhile, Victor Rodriguez seems most likely to remain as Boston’s assistant hitting coach. Rodriguez has ties to Davis and is well-liked in Boston, though minor-league hitting coach Tim Hyers and ex-Red Sox catcher Rich Gedman are also said to be candidates for the position.

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