Brewers fans' favorite cult hero set to join 2026 coaching staff

Milwaukee Brewers fans were expecting some changes to their team's coaching staff prior to the 2026 season, but I don't think anyone was expecting to be this excited by them. Just moments ago, the team announced their new coaching staff with a post on the social media platform X, and among the new hires was a former fan favorite whose brief tenure in Milwaukee still gets talked about to this day.

Daniel Vogelbach! Joining the Brewers' 2026 coaching staff as one of two assistant coaches under the new lead hitting coach, Eric Theisen, is the Vogey himself, who played 112 games for Milwaukee across the 2020 and 2021 seasons. As a player, Vogelbach struggled to find consistent opportunities with one club, but during a time when Milwaukee had a revolving door of first basemen, he became a favorite of the Brewers' fanbase. Despite holding a .219 average in 93 games during the 2021 season, Vogey's power and knack for getting on base propelled him to a solid .730 OPS. His best Brewers moment was easily the walk-off grand slam he hit against the St. Louis Cardinals in early September of 2021 as the Brewers were closing in on their first division title since 2018.

Brewers add former fan favorite Daniel Vogelbach to their 2026 coaching staff amid a myriad of changes

Since hanging up his cleats after the 2024 season, Vogelbach has served as a special assistant on the Pittsburgh Pirates coaching staff, so his move to hitting coach is a significant promotion. Brewers fans will no doubt welcome him back with open arms.

Elsewhere, the Brewers have made several changes to the coaching staff, which was expected after former assistant manager Rickie Weeks took a job in the front office, and the team announced that they would not be hiring a bench coach to replace him.

The Brewers will have two new base coaches for the 2026 season. Former third base coach Jason Lane has been promoted to "offense and strategy coordinator" and is being replaced in the third base coaches’ box by Matt Erickson, who was once the manager of the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, but has been a part of the big-league staff for the last two seasons. Julio Borbon, who coached first base for the Brewers in 2025, is not returning for the 2026 campaign and will be replaced by Spencer Allen. Allen, who was the head baseball coach at Northwestern University for five seasons from 2016-2021, was the Brewers director of player development in each of the last two years.

As previously noted, Al LeBoeuf is no longer the team's lead hitting coach but will remain in the organization in a new role, according to Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. His team will consist of Vogelbach and Guillermo Martinez, who is coming off a season as the Chicago Cubs' Double-A hitting coach.

The pitching coach staff will also experience a few changes in 2026. The legendary Chris Hook remains the Brewers' pitching coach, but his former partner Jim Henderson is taking on a new role as the team's "pitching coordinator." As a result, Juan Sandoval, who is being promoted all the way from the Brewers' Dominican Summer League team, will serve as the new assistant under Hook.

It's certainly an exciting series of moves, and ones that give the Brewers some clarity as they head into the new year, but none of them rival the addition of Vogelbach to the coaching staff. Hopefully, you didn't get rid of your Vogelbach Brewers jersey (why would you ever?), because it just became relevant once again.