Me personally, no.
I have personally witnessed a coach telling a kid to hit another 1 time that I can remember.
The situation: A kid we were facing had previously hit 2 of our kids when a left handed pitcher of ours steps to the plate (he was pitching that game). The kid nailed him right in the left arm (he bats from the right side). That made our coach mad but the kid laughed about it the whole entire time our kid walked to first base (laughed at our player). Coach took offense and explained that he didn't feel the kid hit our player on purpose, but laughing directly at a kid after hitting them is unacceptable. He asked the kid who was pitching if he'd be OK with it and that he understood no one was forcing him to. I think there was no force in the request because the kid who got hit was pitching. There tends to be a little more... firmness in the request when it's sticking up for another teammate. The next inning the first batter got one right in the ribs.
In general I don't like it. Too many times kids let their egos get in the way and will hit someone on purpose without a coaches instruction. In this instance coach gave the explaination and specificly warned against trying to cause harm. He instructed nothing above the letters. I, and the team, I would say were OK with this instance. If a kid was ever told by a coach to hit someone without a substantial reason, I would have no choice but to step in. Simple lesson, don't laugh at a kid you hit, especially when he's pitching.
Baseball in general should be able to live without this aspect of the game, but unfortunately it's apart of the game and it sometimes proves itself necessary.
I'd also like to point out that was 1 time in a long season.