Matt Borgschulte's Marching Orders: Get Consistent Production From a High-Variance Lineup

[Cody Schoenmann]

The Twins' new hitting coach's most discernible indicator of success will be finding consistency, with a lineup constructed out of a patently inconsistent group of players.

Image courtesy of © Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images

Less than two weeks after relieving hitting coach David Popkins and both of his assistants of their duties, the Minnesota Twins (known for taking their time) actively sought out and hired Matt Borgschulte for the same position. Borgschulte, 33, shuffled between minor-league hitting coach roles with Minnesota from 2018 to 2021 before joining the Baltimore Orioles' major-league coaching staff in 2022. Quantifying the impact Borgschulte made on Twins minor leaguers over his three seasons with the organization is nearly impossible. However, Borgschulte has been at the forefront of various hitting success stories since becoming the Orioles' co-hitting coach alongside Ryan Fuller.

Whether it be extracting surplus value from older homegrown talent in Anthony Santander, Cedric Mullins, or Ryan Mountcastle; reviving reclamation projects like Ryan O'Hearn, Jorge Mateo, and Aaron Hicks; or serving as a guiding light to star young prospects in Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson, Jordan Westburg, Colton Cowser, and Jackson Holliday, Borgschulte and Fuller captained one of the most effective offensive units in MLB over the past three seasons. Despite newfound success as an organization, Baltimore has fallen short come playoff time, failing to win a playoff game despite winning 101 games in 2023 and 91 games in 2024. Finding sustainable regular-season success is a virtue that should not be overlooked. However, what good is sustainable regular-season success for an organization if the rug unfailingly gets pulled out from beneath them early in the postseason?

Baltimore found itself in this bittersweet predicament. Instead of parting ways with manager Brandon Hyde, the organization made coaching changes on the margins. The O's first parted ways with Fuller. However, they appeared content with Borgschulte on the 2025 staff while hiring a new co-hitting coach. Despite retaining his job with a young, successful team on the precipice of a World Series run, the 33-year-old former college baseball player chose to rejoin the Twins organization.

Borgschulte will be the clear-cut, top hitting coach of an MLB club for the first time in his career. The Twins' hiring him for this role continues the organization's trend of opting for youth and innovation, as they did when hiring Popkins before the 2022 season. Interestingly, being young and relatively inexperienced aren't where the parallels between Popkins and Borgschulte end. Borgschulte's hitting philosophy centers on making purposeful swing decisions, controlling the strike zone, and prioritizing hard contact. His approach with Baltimore also stressed the importance of making loud contact and driving the ball into gaps and over the fence. Sound familiar?

Now, hiring someone who appears to have the same philosophy as Popkins may seem counterproductive. However, there seems to be a distinct difference in how they communicate this approach, evidenced by this tweet from Twins Daily's Parker Hageman:

A frequent fan critique of the Twins in recent years was that hitters appeared to stick to the game plan, even when opposing pitchers made adjustments that neutralized their pre-planned approach. Whether it was Edouard Julien skittishly overanalyzing every plate appearance or Ryan Jeffers staring at middle-middle fastballs in 2-2 counts, Twins hitters looked like they were drowning at the plate, evidenced by the team posting the fifth-worst wRC+ in MLB from Sept. 1 through Sept. 29. Fair or not, much of the blame fell on Popkins and assistant hitting coaches Rudy Hernandez and Derek Shomon.

Again, it is tough to quantify how much praise or blame managers and hitting coaches deserve at the major-league level. However, there is no doubt that the mix of rigid game planning and an inability to make adequate in-game adjustments is the type of systematic error that led to the Twins' dramatic collapse during the season's final month and overall season-long struggles. Plagued by inconsistency, the 2024 Twins' lineup flaws were fatal, resulting in Popkins, Hernandez, and Shomon losing their jobs. Although these three came up short in their quest to build a sustainably productive, hard-hitting offense, that doesn't mean the approach they were trying to teach was dysfunctional. This is where Borgschulte comes into the equation.

As stated earlier, Borgschulte is similar to Popkins in that he values purposeful swing decisions, controlling the strike zone, and prioritizing hard contact on balls in the zone. Borgschulte will continue to teach this approach with the Twins, just like Popkins will as he heads north of the border. Every MLB organization prioritizes these same traits. However, some do it better than others. The Twins have lower-quality offensive personnel than the Orioles had the previous three seasons. That said, the club's personnel is significantly better than they displayed this past September.

Despite the Pohlad family recently announcing their intention to sell the franchise, the Twins' payroll will likely hover around $130 million again next season. This unfortunate reality means the team's lineup will include many of the same hitters as last season. Borgschulte's greatest indicator of success will be his ability to lessen the high-variance nature of the Twins lineup, in the name of manufacturing a more sustainable team-wide approach. Popkins successfully pulled off this high-wire act once during his tenure with Minnesota, and the result was the organization winning its first postseason game in 18 years. If Borgschulte can clearly communicate necessary hitting adjustments to players, create more flexible game plans, and be endowed with a relatively healthy assortment of players, the Twins could quickly return to the playoffs.

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[tarheeltwinsfan]

See ball...hit ball.

[LambchoP]

If he can get season long consistency from most of our hitters, we'll throw the guy a parade. Guys got his work cut out for him that's for sure.

[Fire Dan Gladden]

I feel all positional coaching at this level (MLB, NBA, etc.) is more about fine-tuning approaches and mental management then complete overhauls.  He is young, relatable, and has had success.  There is no guarantee of success, but it appears the Twins knew exactly what they wanted here.

[AKTwinsFan]

It's not all about getting hard contact, it's about when and where to do it. Plate discipline was the Twins downfall in the second half. They got out of the same funk in the first half after they started up the Rally Sausage. But the week long break at all star time just lost them. Unfortunately never getting back the top ten offense and plate discipline they had before the break. Short memories I guess.

[Doctor Gast]

Popkins marching orders were to keep the Twins' high variant lineup in step to the "plan" (the constant all-or-nothing hitting approach) when that didn't work out he was blamed for it. Popkin had helped many from the high variant lineup to be true to themselves & develop into better hitters. Popkins was well respected in the Twins clubhouse. His firing was a sham.

[bean5302]

4 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

Popkins marching orders were to keep the Twins' high variant lineup in step to the "plan" (the constant all-or-nothing hitting approach) when that didn't work out he was blamed for it. Popkin had helped many from the high variant lineup to be true to themselves & develop into better hitters. Popkins was well respected in the Twins clubhouse. His firing was a sham.

Agreed. Popkins followed the plans laid out by the front office and he got scapegoated.

[Blyleven2011]

5 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

Popkins marching orders were to keep the Twins' high variant lineup in step to the "plan" (the constant all-or-nothing hitting approach) when that didn't work out he was blamed for it. Popkin had helped many from the high variant lineup to be true to themselves & develop into better hitters. Popkins was well respected in the Twins clubhouse. His firing was a sham.

Popkins and crew get terminated for following a plan designated by the FO and Rocco  ...

Something might be wrong with this picture as the people that incorporated the plan are still here wanting to stay with the plan for 2025 by hiring borgschulte  ...

Let's hope we get more exciting and consistent  hitting  for 2025 ...

[David Maro]

Same Crap different year!! They will be swinging for the fences and leaving ducks on the pond.Need to learn situational hitting like hit and run or hitting behind a runner. You know like the game called baseball.

[ashbury]

15 hours ago, David Maro said:

Same Crap different year!! They will be swinging for the fences and leaving ducks on the pond.

Two of the three teams with the highest LOB in 2024 will be playing in the World Series this Friday.  I don't use that stat to judge an offense one way or the other. 

(But for the record, our Twins had 8 more LOB than the major league average, while scoring 31 more runs than the norm.)

[Jimcotta]

Whether Popkins and crew where made scapegoats or not and whether or not they will follow the same hitting philosophies or not (they will), I am just glad a change was made. I don't care what any metric says, they were horrible in situational hitting. They were particularly pitiful with a runner on third and less than 2 outs and bases loaded.

[JD-TWINS]

I don’t understand the overwhelming blame on coaching for the player’s inability to do what’s right at the plate. ……if a guy misses free throws in a basketball game it’s not “coaching” ……. if a QB throws the ball into the ground on an easy swing pass into the flat it’s not “coaching”. Baseball players are grown men, not high school kids or younger that need to be educated daily on how to advance a runner nor how to steal a base nor where to throw the ball from the outfield nor how to protect the plate with 2 strikes. There is NO coaching philosophy from any individual coach nor staff that’s promoting HR cuts with 2 strikes - just not real! Players have the mental ability to approach the game & play the game right, or they don’t. Coaching reminders, helping with physical keys, and certainly mental massaging from coaches is key & valuable but the players play, ultimately.

The players had a terrible combined performance over the last 6 weeks of the season due to a bunch of circumstances, some we are aware of and some we probably don’t about……don’t think it’s because the coaches lost the Team or forgot/lost the ability to coach.

Popkins got scooped up by Toronto - obviously, his reputation isn’t torched in the League………..If the Twins roster & everyday line-up were so poor or without promise, why would Borgschulte leave Baltimore to get on a sinking ship?

TWINS really need a bat to help replace & add a bit to the numbers Santana had in ‘24. The other 12 spots will be filled with guys currently on the 40 man. Am hopeful that the new guy can get them & keep them focused with all the advantages of today’s technology and some subtle skills of his own. Fingers crossed!

[bean5302]

5 hours ago, Jimcotta said:

Whether Popkins and crew where made scapegoats or not and whether or not they will follow the same hitting philosophies or not (they will), I am just glad a change was made. I don't care what any metric says, they were horrible in situational hitting. They were particularly pitiful with a runner on third and less than 2 outs and bases loaded.

2023 Popkins was told to make all the hitters hit home runs, who cares about strikeouts? He very successfully did that. The all or nothing Falvey approach failed against disciplined veteran teams.

2024 Popkins was told strikeouts are now bad so hitters need to completely rework their approach at the plate. Now focus on optimized contact at every plate appearance, and Popkins got those results.
Popkins gets fired because the Twins' offense tanked down the stretch with a poorly constructed roster, and he immediately gets hired by the Blue Jays because Popkins gets the results the front office asks for...

2025 The Twins put Borgschultes in at hitting coach and want to focus on situational hitting.

I can't say Popkins is a great or a bad hitting coach. It just seems to me he got exactly the results the front officed asked him to produce, and that's pretty damned impressive.