Mattingly is finally back in full swing

Don Mattingly was prepared to stay close to his youngest son as long as the boy needed him, as long as it took to steady a family shaken by divorce.

Mattingly lost out on his dream job of managing the New York Yankees last November but was hired by Dodgers Manager Joe Torre within days to be the club’s batting coach. In January, he retreated to a lesser role because of personal reasons, which became horrifyingly public in February with the arrest of his estranged wife, Kim, on public intoxication charges.

The couple’s two oldest sons are on their own -- including middle son Preston, a second baseman for Great Lakes, the Dodgers Class-A team at Midland, Mich. -- but the third, Jordon, is about to be a high school junior in Indiana and Mattingly wanted to be a constant in the boy’s life. He resumed a full-time role with the Dodgers after the All-Star break only because Jordon, who turned 17 last week, urged him to return.

“He’s been great. He’s really the one that encouraged me to come back,” Mattingly said.

“He felt like it would be best for everybody, with everything that’s going on. He’s the one really that sealed the deal as far as saying, ‘Hey dad, it’s time. I’m fine.’ ”

Father and son plan to reunite when the Dodgers play in St. Louis in a few weeks. For now, Jordon is with his mother.

“It’s as OK as it’s going to be,” Mattingly said. “It’s pretty stable. There are good days and bad days, days when you seem to be OK and days it’s like World War III.

“I’m sure I’m like everybody else going through this.”

If he wants to immerse himself in his work, the light-hitting Dodgers should keep him busy even though they’ve scored 47 runs in the nine games since Mattingly rejoined the club.

He’s still learning National League pitchers and he’s adjusting to working with younger players after becoming accustomed to veteran-dominated Yankees teams. He likes the challenge.

“There’s a lot of young guys with talent that need to keep climbing,” he said. “There’s a high ceiling and you’ve really got to reach the ceiling if you really want to be a good ballclub. We’ve got to get more guys reaching the ceiling.”

If anyone can help it’s Mattingly, not only because he was a career .307 hitter and won Torre’s trust as the batting coach for the Yankees for three seasons and bench coach last season.

Mattingly doesn’t try to make everyone hit the same way, or hit the way he did. He demands that every practice swing have a purpose and that every player be prepared for anything, which should be automatic but apparently was not.

That seems to have resonated with players. Catcher Russell Martin said Mattingly is vocal on the bench, always discussing situations and what hitters should do.

“He’s got a good way of teaching. He’s easy to talk to and he comes across the right way,” Martin said. “He keeps it simple, and that’s what we need.”

It’s a good start.

“We need to grow as far as just having an understanding of what guys are doing, what kind of pitcher it is, what he’s trying to do out there,” Mattingly said.

“We have a lot of guys that need game plans when they walk up there. Every pitcher you face, I don’t care if he’s coming out of the bullpen or if he’s starting, there’s some kind of plan off that guy, some plan as to how you, as a hitter, are going to go at that guy.

“Each guy has to understand what they’re doing at this stage. You can’t just go up there just flailing. At least let’s have an understanding of what this guy is trying to do. Is he a guy that throws strikes? Is he a guy that likes to pick edges and nibble? Then you’ve got to let him nibble because he wants you to chase. He’s going to play on the edges and hope he’s going to find a play off you.”

Mattingly says he believes that Andruw Jones can be salvaged, making him either an optimist or a dreamer.

“It’s just time and patience. People asked me the same thing about Jason [Giambi] over there,” Mattingly said. “When I got over there he was a mess. It’s a process. They’re going to say, ‘Fix Andruw and have it done by tonight,’ and you know, it’s tough up there. He’s got some habits up there that need to be broken, but you don’t break habits overnight. We need to keep working on it and we want to see improvement.

“I’ve seen improvement in the cages. I’ve seen improvement in BP, but it’s got to get to the game. And once it happens in the game, then the confidence comes back. You know that it’s there. It’s not like it’s not there. We’ve got to uncover it and he’s got to believe it.”

In the meantime, Mattingly is establishing a new routine for himself and learning his way around Los Angeles and Dodger Stadium. He’s staying in a hotel but plans to rent a place.

“I feel like that kid that got called up,” he said, smiling. “You don’t know how to get anywhere. Where’s the locker room? Where do I take my luggage?”

But he’s settling into his new home, an ideal place to teach and to heal away from the incessant scrutiny he would have faced if he’d gotten his Yankees dream job.

“You talk about blessings, I’m really glad I didn’t get it,” he said. “With everything that happened after that, I’m really glad I didn’t get it. I tell people I’m probably one of the few guys in the world who’s happy he didn’t get one of the best baseball jobs going.”

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Helene Elliott can be reached at helene.elliott@latimes.com.

To read previous columns by Elliott, go to latimes.com/elliott.