On the radio broadcast today, Joe and Tim were talking about conversations with Pearce about his nascent experience with the Sox. He mentioned the breadth and depth of conversations about hitting. I don't know if that's a coaching/managing thing or a players thing, but I suspect most of the credit should go to JDM.I don't think any manager would have the effect on the hitting as much as JDM and Mitchy Two Bags have had this year.
E.g., Cora in a May article by Julian Benbow in the Globe, referring to JDM and Mookie's rapport:
“I think the communication and the way they go about their craft, I’ve been saying it all along,” Cora said. “Especially towards the end of spring training, there was a lot of baseball talk in the clubhouse, in the dugout, and it keeps going.
“You see them, not only those two but the rest of the team talking about hitting, talking about situations, taking advantage of what the game is giving you. When you start doing that, you start winning a bunch of games and it becomes fun.
“That’s a lot of work they put in for them to put themselves in position to drive the ball, put up good at-bats. People just see the results from 7 until 10, but what they have to do to put themselves in position to be successful, it’s a lot of work.”