Former Wild Things player is Guardians’ new hitting coach.

Staff and wire reports

CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Guardians on Wednesday promoted Grant Fink to hitting coach. He'll replace Chris Valaika, who joined Terry Francona's coaching staff with the Cincinnati Reds.

Fink was the Cleveland's minor league hitting coordinator the past three seasons.

Fink spent three years as a player in the Cleveland farm system before ending his playing career with the Washington Wild Things in 2016, primarily as an infielder.

Fink becomes the second former Wild Things player who will be a hitting coach in the major leagues in 2025. David Popkins, who played two seasons in Washington, was recently hired by the Toronto Blue Jays as their hitting coach. Popkins and Fink were teammates on Washington's 2016 team under manager Gregg Langbehn.

"As we looked at the landscape of the hitting across the game," Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said, "we kept going back to Grant and what he brings from a leadership standpoint, from familiarity with a lot of our players and familiarity with the other three hitting coaches on our staff."

Fink played in 63 games for the Wild Things in 2016, hitting .197 with 10 doubles and nine home runs.