Dodgers name Mark McGwire hitting coach

The Los Angeles Dodgers have officially named Mark McGwire as their new hitting coach. McGwire will replace Dave Hansen, who was fired on Oct. 12.

McGwire's joining of the Dodgers comes shortly after his exit from the St. Louis Cardinals, with whom he spent the last three seasons as hitting coach and played the final years of his career. The Cardinals promoted John Mabry to replace him.

McGwire, who lives in Orange County and played college baseball at Southern California, will be the Dodgers' seventh hitting coach in the last eight years. He follows Hansen (2011-2012), Jeff Pentland (2011), Don Mattingly (2008-2010), Mike Easler (2008), Bill Mueller (2007), Eddie Murray (2006-2007) and current third base coach Tim Wallach (2004-2005).

With Los Angeles, McGwire will have the opportunity to help a number of key players, including Adrian Gonzalez, Matt Kemp, Carl Crawford, Hanley Ramirez and Andre Ethier.

Last season, the Dodgers offense ranked in the bottom half of the league in a number of categories, including 26th in runs (637) and 28th in slugging percentage (.374).

This story was originally published on SBNation.com.