'I could be flipping burgers': BlueClaws' hitting coach had unique journey to Jersey Shore

Very few have seen the trials and tribulations of baseball like Ari Adut. From being cut from his high school team as a senior, to starring at the junior college level and earning a scholarship to play Division II baseball and even making a mere $100 a week playing independent league baseball, the sport has given him more twists and turns than a Six Flags roller coaster.

That constant ability to persevere and grow through the sport is also what prepared Adut for coaching and his current job as hitting coach of the Jersey Shore BlueClaws.

“I’ve had all the experiences, I’ve just kind of learned that’s what my life is, in a good way though,” the 29-year-old coach said. “I’m one who likes the failure aspect of it, it doesn’t make me feel good, but it’s basically shaped who I am.”

'It's just not my style'

Adut grew up with a father from Israel and an American-Jewish mother. Baseball wasn’t something that was beloved in his family, but he fell in love when he first picked up a bat when he was 10.

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However, he never stood out and despite leaving high school without a varsity at-bat, he knew he wanted to keep playing even though most may have hung up their cleats for good.

“It’s just not my style,” Adut said. “Of course it crosses your mind, you’re disappointed, but I knew I wanted to play, it just didn’t happen where I was at.”

Adut, a California native, went to Los Angeles Valley College (LAVC), a local junior college and earned a spot on the baseball team and developed into an all-conference outfielder. After his time at junior college, Adut ventured to Oklahoma where he played two years at East Central University before playing two productive seasons of independent league baseball in Kansas and Texas.

After an especially strong 2016 season only making $100 a week playing in Alpine, Texas, Adut knew it was time to move on from playing when he didn’t get picked up by a major league organization.

“I was in a hotel, I was missing my now-wife. Missing hanging out with her, not making a lot of money, so I just drove from New Mexico when the season ended, drove straight home,” Adut said.

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In the dugout

When he was playing independent ball Adut was asked by Dave Mallas, his coach at LAVC, if he wanted to volunteer with the team. He originally declined, instead saying he’d like to train with them.

When the first game of the season rolled around, Adut was coaching first base, completely enthralled in a role he didn’t intend to have. From then on, Adut volunteered with Mallas in the offseason and let it be known that when Adut was done racing around the diamond, he had a spot on his staff.

“He had a lot of characteristics. His mentality, his work ethic, his willingness to continue to learn and he was coachable. Just certain traits that you think might be good as a coach,” Mallas explained. “So you just throw it out there and you never know once the people get into it how they will be as a coach, but I was glad I did.”

The longer Adut was with Mallas and the LAVC baseball program, the more responsibility he was given. Mallas gave him the responsibility of coaching hitting and baserunning, as well as helping in recruiting. Adut, who is also fluent in Spanish and Hebrew, was deploying nuanced new-aged coaching techniques, including data and technology that has become more commonplace in baseball today, but wasn’t at the time.

“I was trying to find a way to draw in recruiting, because in my area, there is like 10 (junior colleges) you can choose from in a 20-mile radius. So, it’s like how do you separate yourself from the other [junior colleges], so essentially, I started posting on Twitter what we were doing in practice, what we were doing with the guys,” Adut said.

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'It was an interview on my end'

Despite creating a Twitter account to attract players, Adut ended up being recruited as a result.

In 2019 Adut received a message from Dillon Lawson, who was the Yankees minor league hitting coordinator, asking him to talk sometime. Adut, thinking he was entering a casual conversation, was shocked when 40 minutes into the conversation he realized it was a job interview.

“It was an interview on my end, I just didn’t tell him,” Lawson said.

“I was contacting him for a very specific reason, because we were looking to bring more coaches in and he didn’t know that, he didn’t have that background knowledge,” explained Lawson, who was promoted to be the Yankees hitting coach in December. “Quite honestly, I didn’t want him to give me a sales pitch on why he might be the right guy, I just wanted to have him be authentic.”

The interviews started piling up and overnight, Adut went from a junior college teacher and coach to a wanted commodity among the organizations that didn’t notice him as a player. Despite interest from other organizations, he decided to work under Lawson.

When COVID-19 shut down the nation, Adut was furloughed by the Yankees and as the pandemic lingered, life got more difficult for him and his family, which now included a child.

“I told him ‘I need to do this for my family, I don’t have means,’ ” Adut said.

Lawson understood Adut’s plight and reached out to teams across the league, ultimately helping him land a job with the Philadelphia Phillies organization.

“Making that call, that’s the least I can do in that situation. Ari’s more than deserving of that job, but it’s still his job to go get and he did,” Lawson said.

Adut lived in Florida when he was with the Yankees and was able to stay in the Sunshine State for the beginning of his tenure with the Phillies. After growing up on the west coast and having stops in Oklahoma and Texas, Adut was sent to the northeast, being assigned as the BlueClaws hitting coach for the 2022 season.

“He’s hungry, he always works and wants the best for these guys. I’m trying to create an environment to do the things he needs to do and wants to do to help these guys” Jersey Shore manager Keith Werman said.

After only previously working in short-season rookie leagues, the adjustment to the BlueClaws’ 140-game schedule has been a test.

Even in its hardest moments, this challenge, it’s a dream come true.

“I could be flipping burgers; this is the best job in the world. I get to do baseball every single day,” Adut said cheerily. “The thing for me is I always wanted to be a head coach in junior college, so this, for me, is house money.”

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: BlueClaws' Ari Adut, hitting coach, had unique journey to Jersey Shore