Manny Ramirez found his niche in coaching, dropping hints into the ears of players:

Ramirez’s main protege seems to be Starlin Castro, a three-time All-Star who was moved to a part-time role on a team that marketed him as the face of the franchise only three years ago. Ramirez believes Castro is “going to finish strong” and has put the demotion behind him.

But Ramirez also has been seen talking with relievers, including Pedro Strop and Hector Rondon, as he tries to build up their confidence.

“I’m not a pitching coach,” he said, laughing. “I can tell them when their arm is flying open or whatever. But I don’t know anything about pitching.”

As the Cubs continue their playoff push, Ramirez’s knowledge of what late-season pressure feels like can be helpful to players who never have been through this before. When Kris Bryant had his first prolonged slump recently, Ramirez offered support.

“I don’t think Manny has ever been in a slump,” Bryant said with a laugh. “He said just be patient with it. Let the game come to you, don’t really worry about it.”

It’s not quite true that Ramirez never had a slump. They were extremely rare. For example, I looked at calendar months where Manny had at least 80 at bats, an OBP less than .330 and a slugging percentage less than .450. There were only four such months in his career. The worst of those was in September of 1995, when he hit .244/.306/.333. He would not have another month like that until May of 2005, when he hit .234/.321/.404. Slump is a relative term. (The other two months were April 2007, which ranks with the 1995 slump, and May 2008.)

It was certainly true that Manny never lacked confidence at the plate, and it was an easy confidence. The count didn’t matter, the situation didn’t matter, all that mattered was hitting the ball. A lot of hitters can learn from that.