Rob Biertempfel reports that Pirates hitting coach Gregg Ritchie will be the new head coach at George Washington University, so the Bucs will be in the market for a new hitting coach. Being a head coach at GW would seem to be a big step backward, career-wise.

Ritchie took a ton of flak early in the season when the Pirates didn't hit, but in the end, he probably didn't deserve most of it. The Pirates hit like crazy in June and July and ultimately ended up being pretty much the sort of below-average, but not horrible, offense, we probably expected going into the season.