Walt Hriniak

Walter John Hriniak

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 180 lb.
• High School Natick High School
• Debut September 10, 1968
• Final Game September 30, 1969
• Born May 22, 1943 in Natick, MA USA

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Biographical Information

"He made you believe that there was one way to stay focused, one way to stay positive, and one way to get you to get a hit three out of 10 at-bats. We stuck with that program, and I made it happen for years." - Frank Thomas, giving Walt Hriniak credit for influencing him

After a short major league career as a catcher, Walt Hriniak went on to a long career as a hitting coach for the Boston Red Sox and Chicago White Sox. He preached a style similar to hitting coach Charley Lau, teaching hitters the importance of timing and weight shift.

A prototype was Lau's student George Brett: starting all the way back and then diving forward and toward the plate as the pitch comes in. The batter releases the top hand for full extension and finishes the swing with the back foot coming off the ground and all the weight shifting to the front leg.

Two of Hriniak's most notable products were Rich Gedman and Dwight Evans. He was sometimes given credit for the transformation of Evans from a mediocre hitter in the 1970s to one of the best hitters in baseball in the 1980s. Evans was often recognized for the bizarre stances he used, often with the front foot nearly off the ground to emphasize keeping his weight back. But as much credit as Hriniak got for Evans, he was sometimes blamed for the downfall of Gedman. Not only did Gedman seem to lose all his hitting ability during the 1987 season, but he did so while flaunting the Hriniak style with an exaggerated emphasis on technique (hitting with one hand and head down).

In the late 1980s, when blamed for a slow start of the season by Red Sox hitters, Hriniak predicted that by the season's end the Sox would score 800 runs and in the end he was right.

Year-by-Year Managerial Record

Year	Team	League	Record	Finish	Organization	Playoffs
1972	Jamestown Falcons	New York-Penn League	42-28	3rd	Montreal Expos	none
1973	Jamestown Expos	New York-Penn League	41-28	3rd	Montreal Expos	none
1976	Lethbridge Expos	Pioneer League	30-42	4th	Montreal Expos

Further Reading

• David E. Skelton: "Walt Hriniak", in Bill Nowlin and Leslie Heaphy, ed.: The 1986 Boston Red Sox: There Was More Than Game 6, SABR, Phoenix, AZ, 2016. pp. 271-277. ISBN 978-1-943816-19-4

Related Sites

• Walt Hriniak at the SABR Bio Project