Cubs part ways with hitting coach Chili Davis

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For the second straight offseason, the Cubs will be searching for solutions for an offense that struggled in the year's most important games.

And for the second straight offseason, the Cubs will also be searching for a new hitting coach.

The team announced Thursday evening they are parting ways with Chili Davis, who served as the Cubs' hitting coach in 2018. It was his first year with the club after serving in the same capacity for the Boston Red Sox.

Both Theo Epstein and Joe Maddon have a long history with Davis and the former big-leaguer came highly recommended for his tutelage in the art of hitting - physically and mentally.

Initially, the Cubs offense looked good under Davis, who preached a full-field approach and a desire for more contact and fewer strikeouts.

Before the All-Star Break, the Cubs led baseball in on-base percentage (.345), were 4th in runs scored per game (5.12) and 7th in slugging (.426).

After the All-Star Break, something in the Cubs offense "broke," as Epstein put it in his state of the team address last week. The Cubs regressed across the board, finishing 17th in MLB in OBP (.316), 23rd in runs/game (4.07) and 27th in SLG (.389) in the second half.

The Cubs tied for the MLB lead for the most games with 1 or 0 runs scored (40), tying the 115-loss Baltimore Orioles (though the Cubs needed a Game 163 and the NL Wild-Card Game to reach that mark).

The lackluster offense was a major talking point for the entire second half of the season and came to the forefront as the Cubs scored just 1 run in three of their final four games as they were sent home disappointed with an early exit from the postseason.

Hours after the Cubs were eliminated, Epstein was asked if Davis did everything that was asked of him and responded with:

"He worked his tail off to make guys better. So in that respect, he did everything that we asked of him. I think the goal - I think what Joe mentioned and certainly what I was hoping for was never to sacrifice power or launch angle. It's not a fad - I mean, the bottom line is line drives and balls in the air are generally way more productive than ground balls. We weren't looking to sacrifice power and walks in exchange for groundballs and opposite field hits. But in the second half, that's what the results were. That's not what we're looking for."

The Cubs previously employed John Mallee as the hitting coach when they notched three straight NLCS appearances and won the 2016 World Series. Mallee is now the hitting coach of the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Cubs will make an official announcement on the rest of their coaching staff in the coming days.

Chris Kamka contributed to this article.

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