Kevin Long: Not Just a Great Hitting Coach. A Winner.

By BK, Athletic Hitting Development
Complete Hitters Are Built… It’s Earned!

Kevin Long is one of the best hitting coaches in baseball, but that undersells him. Kevin is a winner. He won as a player, he won as a minor league manager, and he has two World Series rings and four pennants as a big league hitting coach.

I get to write this one from the dugout. Kevin was our best player on the 1987 Scottsdale Community College Artichokes, the ’87 Chokes, and we rode that club all the way to the NJCAA World Series. I wrote about that team in 1987 Scottsdale Artichokes: What a Year, and I promised a piece on Kevin. Here it is.

This isn’t a fan page. It’s a look at what a career full of winning teaches the hitters I coach today.

1. Who is Kevin Long?

Kevin is the hitting coach of the Philadelphia Phillies. He grew up in the Valley, starred at Phoenix Thunderbird High School, and still calls Scottsdale home.

Before Philadelphia he ran the hitters for the New York Yankees (2007–2014), the New York Mets (2015–2017) and the Washington Nationals (2018–2021). He also wrote a book about his life in the cages, Cage Rat, which tells you a lot about how he sees the job.

Four franchises. Four pennants. Two rings.

2. He won before he ever coached

Kevin was a freshman on the 1986 Arizona Wildcats, the team that won the national championship under Jerry Kindall. Most players never get near Omaha. Kevin got a ring his first year.

Then he came to Scottsdale and played for us. On a roster loaded with draft picks and future Division I players, Kevin was the best of them. That ’87 Chokes team won a lot of ballgames and earned its way to the JUCO World Series.

He went back to Arizona and kept winning. In 1989 he was a first-team all-conference pick and a second-team All-American, and the Wildcats won the conference. He still holds the Arizona record for extra-base hits in a game: five, against UCLA in 1988.

The Royals took him in the 31st round in 1989, and he hit .312 his first summer. When his playing days ended in 1997, he asked for a coaching job instead of a release. Two years later, managing Class-A Spokane, he won a league title.

3. How many World Series has Kevin Long won?

Two as a hitting coach, and he has taken four different clubs to the World Series. Very few hitting coaches can say that.

Add the 1986 national title at Arizona and the league title in Spokane, and you have a man who has won at every level of the game.

4. Why does he keep winning?

It isn’t a secret swing. Winners don’t have secret sauce. They have habits. Here are the ones I see in Kevin’s career, and they’re the same ones I saw in 1987.

• He prepares like it’s his job, because it is. Before Game 1 of the 2019 World Series, he told a reporter Juan Soto would homer off Gerrit Cole’s high fastball. Soto did it that night. That isn’t luck. That’s hours of film and knowing your hitter cold.
• He coaches the hitter in front of him. In 1997 he helped a young Carlos Beltran learn to switch-hit. With the Mets, he helped Daniel Murphy add power, and Murphy hit seven homers in the 2015 postseason. Different hitters, different plans.
• He keeps the tools simple. His “net drill” came out of the minor leagues, and he used it to help a Double-A hitter reach 40 home runs in 2001.
• He competes for the guy next to him. His Arizona teammate Chip Hale has described him as a battler who was there to help everyone else. That was Kevin in our clubhouse, too.

Winning is never one thing. It’s a stack of habits.

5. What young hitters can learn from Kevin Long

Your hitter doesn’t need to copy a big leaguer’s swing. He needs to copy a winner’s habits. Here’s how they line up with the 4 pillars of a complete hitter.

1. Prepare like a proKnow what you’re working on before you pick up a bat. Find the first priority with SwingChecker instead of guessing.
2. Own your swingBuild a swing that gets to Mechanically Advantaged Angles (MAA) at contact and still adjusts. That’s controlled violence.
3. Train the eyes dailyKevin bet on Soto because Soto saw the ball. Train the Hitting Processor a little every day: see it, time it, decide, attack it.
4. Compete with a planHave a plan for every at-bat and a reset after a bad one. Aggressive with a plan beats aggressive and guessing.
5. Be a great teammateHelp the guy next to you. Winning clubs are full of hitters who care more about the team than their average.

AHD • BACKSPIN2/2

THELESSON.

• Prepare like it’s your job
• Know your own swing
• Train the eyes daily
• Help the guy next to you

Complete Hitters Are Built…Earned.

AHDBackSpinAthletic Hitting Development

Want to go deeper? Read The 1987 Scottsdale Artichokes: What a Year. What a Team. and Tough. A Winner. Big Hits..

Quick answers

Sources: Kevin Long (baseball), Wikipedia · AllSportsTucson: Former Arizona Wildcat Long in World Series as Mets hitting coach · CBS Sports: Long predicted Soto’s home run off Cole · MLB.com: Kevin Long on Phillies hitting for 2026

Don’t collect drills. Build a complete hitter.

Complete Hitters Are Built… It’s Earned!