Former Boston Red Sox slugger Mo Vaughn thriving as collegiate baseball coach

DELRAY BEACH – With so many talented rising baseball stars in South Florida, it’s sometimes easy to forget that so many legends in the sport have made the same place their permanent homes.

Sunday’s South Florida Collegiate Baseball League All-Star game and home run derby combined both – the next generation of stars being coached by former pros who have left distinguished marks on the sport.

For former Red Sox slugger and Boca Raton native Mo Vaughn, the league is the latest development in his unexpected but thriving career as a coach.

“South Florida is crazy; you’ve got a major-leaguer within a throw’s radius” said fellow Boca native Cole Shields, who won the home run derby on Sunday. “It’s really great learning from these guys. They have experiences that are unmatched by anyone at any other level.”

Vaughn, who was joined by other former pros, including Doug Jennings and Brad Pennington, took some time between Sunday’s events to discuss giving back to his community.

The former slugger also took a moment to talk about the state of MLB, including how changes like the pitch clock, pickoff attempts, and eliminating the shift have changed the game he knows and loves.

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When Vaughn retired following the 2003 season, he wasn’t very happy.

“I retired in ‘03, and I didn’t want to retire,” Vaughn said. “It took a lot. It was hard. I had an injury, and I think I was angry.”

Vaughn was left without a role to play in the sport – until his son started playing.

Like any father in his position, Vaughn involved himself in teaching his son. Through that, he realized that coaching could be an unexpected, but welcome calling for the man who spent 13 seasons in the Majors, was the American League MVP in 1995 and a three-time All-Star.

“To be here at 55 years old out of Boca Raton, on the field, is just tremendous,” Vaughn said. “It’s a great feeling. I never thought I would be doing that. I never thought I would be coaching.”

In joining the South Florida Collegiate Baseball League, Vaughn is taking his coaching journey to the next level, which now includes ownership of two teams and working with the academy to reach as many ballplayers as he can.

“It’s great to be able to give them what they need and try to help them on their journey,” he said.

Slugger says it’s not all about power anymore

Major League Baseball implemented a number of changes prior to the start of the 2023 season. And while Vaughn acknowledges he’s not a big fan of the limit being placed on pickoff attempts, he agrees that the vast majority of the changes are creating a more well-rounded game.

Among those adjustments, eliminating the shift has not only opened the field up for hitters, but Vaughn says it has also forced a more defensive and speed-minded approach to fielding.

“I think now, with the shift not happening, you’re going back to having athletes in the middle of the field,” Vaughn said. “Second base, shortstop, centerfielder. All of these athletes have to be moving and ranging. You’re going to go back to good defensive catchers.”

With the changes, power alone simply doesn’t cut it anymore. Vaughn believes that players’ propensity for focusing on launch angle and generating power is going to change.

“I think it’s actually done a disservice to the game,” he said of the focus on launch angle. “[We] coach seven days a week. We have to correct more swings with the launch angle than ever. If you’re 170 pounds, what are you swinging for the fences for?”

Vaughn believes it’s the shift that created the launch angle.

“The psyche of a hitter is, ‘If I hit the ball hard, and I hit the ball where it’s pitched, it should be a hit.’ The shift took away all that," he said. "So now guys are just going for broke. They’re looking to hit the ball over the shift, or they’re swinging and missing. So what type of game do we really have?”

Moving away from that, he says, can only be healthy for the state of baseball.

Baseball about fundamentals, not analytics

With the changes that MLB has implemented, the game is not only evolving, but Vaughn believes it’s returning, in some ways, to an older generation of baseball – in a positive way.

“It’s going back to the '60s, '70s, '80s and '90s now,” Vaughn said. “You’ve got the pitch clock. They’re speeding the game up. I think it’s good. I think speeding the game up is going to be good for the young people.”

When Vaughn spoke to the players competing in the collegiate baseball League on Sunday, a lot of what he had to say revolved around knowing the role you play on a team. Leadoff hitters should be trying to get on base, doing everything they can to accomplish that goal. Middle-lineup guys should be doing everything they can to drive in runs, he says.

“Everybody has a role and you have to know your role to create a good team,” Vaughn said. “When you understand that, you become the ballplayer you’re supposed to be.

“Analytics has a place in this game. But it can’t be the end-all, be-all.”

As the focus becomes less on analytics and more about fundamentals, the game becomes less about the player making a name for himself, and more about team success.

“When I was a player, you had such great players at the end of their eras,” Vaughn said. “I played with Cal [Ripken Jr.], [Don] Mattingly. I played against those guys, and there was a certain way you played the game. Understanding what your skills are and what you need to do. That’s what I think the game is going back to. I think the game is going back to what it’s supposed to be.”

Vaughn noted that small-ball is king, especially in the playoffs.

“That’s fine, that’s what you need,” he says. “Look at the teams that are on top right now. Tampa Bay – they bunt, run, steal, do all the little things. The teams that are winning big right now, they’re doing the little things. And when you’re facing playoff pitching, you need to be able to move runners along and handle the bat.”

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Former Boston Red Sox slugger Mo Vaughn on state of Major League Baseball