Teams are Poaching Twins (Minor-League) Coaching... and Coordinators Too.

[Seth Stohs]

The Twins typically announce their minor-league coaching and coordinator assignments in mid-to-late January. Within the next week, we will likely notice that there have been a lot of changes, on those rosters and throughout the player development department. Why?

Image courtesy of Ed Bailey, Wichita Wind Surge (photo of Ramon Borrego)

Baseball and major sports leagues have the anti-trust laws. Leagues want fans in all of their locations, so players can’t change jobs in baseball like they do in the “real world.” Consider: If a player is drafted in 2021, he signs a contract with a signing bonus at that time. From that point, he will not have any real say in where he plays, or for how much. That is true throughout their minor-league career and until they reach nearly three years of MLB service time, when they gain a little bit of say thanks to the arbitration process. That’s really the first time there is any negotiating to do, and it can happen anywhere from five to 10 years after the player originally signed. It isn’t until the player reaches free agency that he can truly find out what his market value is and, based on the needs of the 30 MLB teams, pick the deal he most likes. 

However, that is not the case for coaches and coordinators. More and more, we see minor-league coordinators and coaches jumping from organization to organization. 

We aren’t talking about coaches being fired. For instance, after the Twins' season ended, we learned that assistant bench coach Tony Diaz and hitting coaches David Popkins, Derek Shomon and Rudy Hernandez would not be returning. That made them free agents. Popkins very quickly was named the hitting coach of the Toronto Blue Jays. Soon after, Shomon was added to the Marlins coaching staff. 

We then learned that former Twins minor-league hitting coach Matt Borgschulte, who has been a co-hitting coach with the Orioles the past few seasons, would be the new Twins hitting coach. Later in the offseason, the Twins announced that Trevor Amicone was named an assistant hitting coach. He was the Yankees' Triple-A hitting coach. Rayden Sierra was promoted from within to be another assistant hitting coach. Also, long-time Twins minor-league manager Ramon Borrego was named the first base coach, and Hank Conger moved from first base coach to assistant bench coach. 

Those are all major-league coaching moves, and they are caused by a disappointing final two months of the 2024 season. In return, they grabbed a couple of coaches from other organizations, and they provided some much-deserved in-house promotions. 

Now let’s get to the minor leagues, and you’ll see that the Twins have been poached. 

I love an organization that tends to build from within. As noted above, Rayden Sierra and Ramon Borrego earned promotions to the big leagues and have worked closely with several of the young players who are, or soon will be, on the big-league roster. 

It is impossible to get upset at a minor-league coach who moves to another organization for a big-league job. Julio Borbon spent a few seasons as a minor-league coordinator. Recently, he was named the first base coach of the Milwaukee Brewers. Tyler Smarslok has been a coach with the Saints the past four seasons. He got the opportunity to manage in the Arizona Fall League after the 2024 season. Soon after winning that league’s championship, he was named the first base coach of the Miami Marlins. 

In addition, it’s hard to complain about a guy taking a top position with another organization. DJ Engle has coached in the Twins minor leagues the past two or three seasons, including in Wichita in 2024. Around the holidays, he was named the Minor-League Pitching Coordinator of the Houston Astros.

There may be personal reasons that a player goes to another team that offers him a position. For instance, Tucker Frawley has been a coordinator in the organization for a half-dozen years. The last few years, he has been the minor league infielders and catcher coordinator. He is a native of New Haven, Connecticut, and spent nearly a dozen years at Yale before joining the Twins. He has joined the New York Mets organization in a similar role, the minor-league defensive coordinator.

Peter Larson spent six seasons in the Twins organization, including the past two seasons with the Saints. He has joined another organization as well this offseason. 

These are not insignificant losses. There are seven upper-level coaches who need to be replaced, and soon we will learn how the Twins were able to replace them. 

I am encouraged by the fact that, since Derek Falvey took the reins of the organization, he has had to make a lot of player development hires because a lot of coaches have been poached by other organizations. It should be seen as a positive that the Twins' player development group is a place that other organizations are looking to for big-league jobs. In addition, the fact that this trend continues gives me hope that they will be able to find some really good coaches that will help the minor leaguers develop. 

When Falvey was named the President of Baseball Operations in 2018, Brad Steil was the minor league coordinator for the transition year. The next year, Steil became a Director of Player Procurement, a key job in leading minor-league scouts. Jeremy Zoll became the Minor League Director. After two seasons, Alex Hassan became the minor league director. He served in that role for two seasons. Drew MacPhail has been in the role for the past three seasons. 

Earlier in the offseason, Jeremy Zoll was named the new General Manager. This week, it was announced that Alex Hassan, Sean Johnson, and Josh Kalk will be joining Daniel Adler as assistant GMs. Hassan and Kalk, along with Zoll, were brought in by Falvey and his group.

A quick look at other Twins coaches who have joined other organizations in recent years shows some pretty impressive names. 

• Peter Fatse, Red Sox Hitting Coach. The Sox fired several coaches this past offseason, but Fatse made the cut! He was the Twins minor-league hitting coordinator for about a year before joining the Red Sox big-league job.
• James Rowson, Yankees Hitting Coach. The Twins hitting coach for the Bomba Squad left after that 2019 season to become the Marlins’ “offensive coordinator.” Things didn’t work out there, or in his time with the Tigers, but being Aaron Judge and Juan Soto’s coach is certainly good. 
• Wes Johnson was brought in as the big-league pitching coach in 2019. He left the Twins midseason in 2022 to join LSU as their pitching coach. He taught Paul Skenes the splinker. And then he left LSU to become Georgia’s head coach the next year. 
• Justin Willard, Red Sox Director of Pitching. Willard came into the Twins organization with Johnson and with Pete Maki. He took over as minor league pitching coordinator when Maki moved up to the big leagues. When Craig Breslow took over the Red Sox, he quickly hired Willard from the Twins and has him overlooking the pitching throughout the fully organization. 
• Zach Bove, Royals Director of Major League Pitching Strategy and Assistant Pitching Coach. Bove was a pitching coach in the Twins low minors when he left to join the Royals big-league staff. 
• Jeremy Hefner, Mets Pitching Coach. Hefner was the Twins bullpen coach, but he was quickly hired by the Mets as their pitching coach. Even through several coaching changes in that organization, Hefner is safe. 
• Tanner Swanson, Yankees major-league quality-control coach and catching coordinator. Swanson was given a lot of credit by Mitch Garver, Ryan Jeffers and Ben Rortvedt in his time working with Twins catchers. The Twins really wanted to keep him around, but when he went to the Yankees, the Twins didn’t have a spot on the big-league coaching staff. A few weeks later … 
• Derek Shelton, Pirates manager… Shelton was named the manager of the Pirates in the 2019-2020 offseason. He’s had some ups and downs, but he’s got a pretty exciting pitching staff and hopefully they will take off in 2025. 
• Garvin Alston: Giants Bullpen Coach - Alston was the Twins pitching coach for 2018. 
• JP Martinez: Giants Pitching Coach - Martinez was drafted and then pitched in the Twins organization for several years. Years later, he joined the organization as a pitching coach. He did well in Cedar Rapids and moved up to the assistant minor league pitching coordinator job. After a year in that role, he became an assistant pitching coach with the Giants. This offseason, he was named the Giants pitching coach. 

So, the primary answer to the “Why?” question is pretty simple. First, you can’t be upset at a coach for taking an opportunity to advance in their career, especially if it’s a promotion to the big leagues. And, you can’t blame the Twins front office for giving them an opportunity, and then for giving them the opportunity to move up. 

If you want to dig a little deeper, this is also an issue in most industries in the United States. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, “the median tenure of wage and salary workers with their current employer was 3.9 years in January of 2024, down from 4.1 in January of 2022. There are a lot of variables in that stat, and frankly, the 0.2 difference isn’t terribly exciting. 

From the same report on Employee Tenure in 2024, there are several stats indicating that the current generation is much more likely to switch jobs more often. How about this one? The median tenure of workers ages 55 to 64 (9.6 years) was more than three times that of workers ages 25 to 34 (2.7 years). Among workers ages 60 to 64, 52 percent had been employed for at least 10 years with their current employer in January 2024, compared with 21 percent of those ages 35 to 39. 

So, in those terms, the baseball coaches and coordinator industry is just like most other industries in the States. Is it generational? Is it just about upward mobility? 

As I read this data and type out sentences about it, it’s clear that statistics can tell a story. The older generation stays with a company for longer, in general, than the younger generations. I have been employed by the same company for 27 years. It’s clear I’m fully in the “old dude” category. Of course, that’s probably obvious, since there are people who weren’t born when I graduated from college that have already switched jobs—if not careers—a couple of times already. 

Of course, in Twins terms, I’m also old enough to actually, clearly remember both of the Twins' World Series championship teams, seasons, and games. Old! 

Finally, the Twins aren’t the only team that has had players pillaged from their organization. According to this article in the New York Daily News by Gary Phillips, the Yankees have lost 14 player development employees this offseason. That is definitely not the norm. Kevin Reese is the Yankees’ vice president of player development. He called this an “unusually high number.” 

For the Yankees, three were promoted to the big-league staff. As mentioned above, the Twins poached Trevor Amicone from them. Most left for similar jobs in other organizations. 

Change is inevitable. Is this a trend in the game, or is it a temporary “fix” of restructuring? We’ll need a few more offseasons to gain more insight on this. What are your thoughts?

---

Former Twins Org Players
Just for fun, I went into the websites of the MLB organizations, found their player development staff, coaches and coordinators, and looked for former Twins  (and Twins minor league) players to see what they are up to. Maybe there are a few names here that you'll recall. 
Sherman Johnson: Orioles Assistant Hitting Coach/Upper Level Hitting Coordinator 
Buck Britton: Orioles Major League Coach 
Drew Butera: White Sox catching coach 
Carl Willis: Guardians Pitching Coach 
Allan de San Miguel: Royals Strategist/Bullpen Catcher
Juan Graterol: Bullpen Catcher 
Marcus Jensen: Quality Control Coach 
Antoan Richardson: Mets 1B Coach 
Jason Kanzler: Cubs, Minor League Director 
Ron Washington: Angels Manager 
Bobby Wilson: Rangers Catching coach 
Henry Blanco: Nationals Catching Coach 
Quintin Berry: Cubs 3B Coach 
Matt Hague: Pirates hitting coach 
Dave McKay: Diamondbacks 1B Coach 
Mike Redmond: Rockies Bench Coach 
Danny Lehmann: Dodgers Bench Coach
Aaron Bates: Dodgers Hitting Coach 
Rick Knapp: Rays Assistant Pitching and Rehab Coach

 

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[rdehring]

Off topic, Seth.

But I read in today's Strib something about the International signings.  Seems the Twins, and others, may have benefited from the Dodgers and a few others waiting for the Japanese pitcher.  Sounds like the Twins did maybe the best since that year they got the big 3 what was it, fifteen or maybe twenty years ago?

Will you be doing a complete report?

[BSLinPA]

Remember all of these....except Sean Doolittle.  Would a fellow TDer please refresh my memory?

[Seth Stohs]

1 hour ago, BSLinPA said:

Remember all of these....except Sean Doolittle.  Would a fellow TDer please refresh my memory?

I was thinking of the wrong lefty reliever. Doolittle was an All-Star. The guy I'm thinking about wasn't. 

[Fire Dan Gladden]

I was hoping to read about some team poaching our 3B coach Tommy Watkins...

Just replace him with a windmill.

[Wizard11]

Seth, Thanks for the positive and fun content.  I always appreciate your upbeat approach to sharing your extensive knowledge and insight on the Twins.

[Doctor Wu]

Very interesting article, Seth. You must have done a helluva lotta research for this one. Much appreciated.

You wrote: 

Of course, in Twins terms, I’m also old enough to actually, clearly remember both of the Twins' World Series championship teams, seasons, and games. Old! 

Hey, I can remember those days too. Too bad, they happened MUCH TOO LONG ago!

 

[AlwaysinModeration]

On 1/16/2025 at 7:34 PM, Seth Stohs said:

I was thinking of the wrong lefty reliever. Doolittle was an All-Star. The guy I'm thinking about wasn't. 

Which lefty were you thinking of?

Dooooooooooooo was beloved here in Washington, DC and still lives on Capitol Hill.

[Seth Stohs]

12 hours ago, AlwaysinModeration said:

Which lefty were you thinking of?

Dooooooooooooo was beloved here in Washington, DC and still lives on Capitol Hill.

I was thinking of Sean Gilmartin... whose wife was once the White House Press Secretary. Gilmartin was a Rule 5 pick by the Twins, I believe. 

[Heistyman]

What happened to Brian Dinkelman, did he leave the organization?

[ashbury]

On 1/21/2025 at 9:02 AM, Heistyman said:

What happened to Brian Dinkelman, did he leave the organization?

He's managing AA Wichita for the Twins this year.