Mets begin rebuilding coaching staff

The New York Mets announced two additions to manager Carlos Mendoza's staff on Wednesday.

Kai Correa is the new bench coach and Jeff Albert will serve as director of major league hitting.

On Oct. 3, the Mets purged the coaching staff after tumbling from first place in the National League East all the way out of the postseason picture.

New York fired pitching coach Jeremy Hefner, hitting coaches Jeremy Barnes and Eric Chavez, and third base coach Mike Sarbaugh. Bench coach John Gibbons resigned and catching coach Glenn Sherlock retired. Assistant pitching coach Desi Druschel and bullpen coach Jose Rosado were granted permission to speak to other teams.

Correa, 37, was the Cleveland Guardians' field coordinator/director of defense, baserunning and game strategy this season.

Albert, 44, spent the past three seasons as the Mets' director of hitting development.

The Mets were 21 games over .500 on June 12 with the best record in baseball (45-24) and had a season-high 5 1/2-game lead in the division that day. By the time the All-Star break arrived, New York was 55-42 and trailed the Philadelphia Phillies by 1/2 game.

A 28-37 record following the break, including an eight-game skid from Sept. 6-13, left the Mets at 83-79 -- 13 games behind the Phillies and out of the wild-card race.

--Field Level Media