With Rocco Baldelli Gone, What's Next for Pete Maki and Matt Borgschulte?

[Nate Palmer]

Image courtesy of © Eric Canha-Imagn Images

Rocco Baldelli was shown the door on Monday and will not be returning to manage the Minnesota Twins in 2026. That leaves a whole staff of coaches in limbo. Most prominent on that list are pitching coach Pete Maki and hitting coach Matt Borgschulte. 

The last time (and only other time) the Twins have been in this position under Derek Falvey’s leadership was at the end of the 2018 campaign, when the front office fired Paul Molitor and began the search that culminated in Baldelli being hired. At that time, the Twins did retain three coaches from Molitor’s staff: bench coach Derek Shelton, hitting coach James Rowson, and assistant hitting coach Rudy Hernandez. 

The atmosphere around the club is slightly different today than it was at the end of 2018. Then, the team was a year removed from a playoff berth, and there was a group of hitters that had produced enough under Rowson to give hope for what was to come. That core included Mitch Garver, Jorge Polanco, Eddie Rosario (coming off an .803 OPS season), Max Kepler, a 24-year-old Byron Buxton, and Miguel Sanó. The front office was also new enough, in itself, that the general state of leadership and the trust therein from outside the organization was much different than it is now.

The moves to retain Rowson and Shelton paid off for the Twins, as both were recognized as contributors to the Twins' success in the following season. Rowson would ultimately receive a promotion and move to the Miami Marlins. Shelton got the even bigger bump, as he was hired to manage the Pittsburgh Pirates. 

By contrast, the current Twins club is at a low point in morale and performance. The question needs to be asked: Is there any part of the current Twins coaching culture that is worth retaining for the new manager, or is it best for the new manager to have a clean slate to work with?

"Obviously, the next manager [who] comes in will have quite a bit of say, as Rocco did," Falvey said Tuesday, at the team's end-of-season press conference. "We told the coaching staff that. We had to be as clear and as transparent with them as we could be, which is, we’ll work toward the next manager and then figure out exactly what the staff looks like."

Borgschulte just completed his first season as the Twins' hitting coach. He was welcomed as a returning hero after leaving the Twins to serve on the Orioles staff for a few years, but the Twins scored 678 runs (23rd in MLB) and ranked 18th in wRC+. For the entirety of 2025, the Twins consistently fell short when it came to scoring enough runs to win games. 

Even when looking at individual players, the successes are few for the recently completed season on the offensive side. That list may begin and end with Byron Buxton—and “coaching” up an alreay-elite player who simply stayed healthy this time isn’t much to hang your hat, on as a coach. Yes, there were flashes for parts of 2025 for other players, but the failures of so many far outweighed any good found. 

Borgschulte’s biggest hope for remaining on the 2026 staff is likely that the Twins front office realizes this isn’t a coaching problem, but a roster problem. Since the front office and ownership have already fired the manager, it seems unlikely that the upper-level leadership would view themselves and their roster construction as the problem, but rather, they would like to continue and shift blame elsewhere. We can quickly glance at David Popkins to realize the 2025 offense is likely a bigger issue than Borgschulte alone, but Baldelli has taken the initial fall, and unfortunately for Borgschulte, he may follow him out the door. 

Maki has been around longer than Borgschulte, having been elevated from bullpen coach to pitching coach after Wes Johnson walked away mid-season in June 2022. Overall, the Twins pitching staff's numbers were not great in 2025, as they allowed the 8th-most runs in MLB and ranked 24th in ERA. The difference between Maki and Borgschulte is that there were individual performances that can be pointed to as signs of forward progress. 

Joe Ryan took a step forward and looked like the Twins' number one starter for large parts of the season. Ryan reached 171 innings pitched, amassed 4.5 WAR, was named to the All-Star team, and had a 3.42 ERA. Zebby Matthews didn’t end the season with great overall numbers, but he had a stretch in August where he looked much more like the pitching prospect we had hoped to see when he was called up. Others, like Simeon Woods-Richardson, Bailey Ober, and Pablo López, have been steady, if not impressive, under Maki’s leadership. 

While those were the positives, Maki also seemed to have more talent to work with than Borgschulte, and wasn’t able to help it all come together. The bullpen, although good enough to be largely traded away, was not as dominant as it looked on paper before the season began. The bullpen performance may be one of the most significant negative marks on Maki’s season. While Maki has a larger resume to stand on to be retained under a new manager, that same resume may be the reason he is also shown the door. Out of the two, Maki seems more likely to be around in 2026. 

The fates of Maki and Borgschulte are situations that we will need to continue monitoring closely. Based on what has happened over the past year, both may be shown the door. What would you like to see the Twins do, and what do you think the Twins will actually do? Share in the comments below.

View full article

[Brandon27]

Whoever going be the next manager going bring in their own coaches i think time for new faces on the staff 

[mikelink45]

Time to move on - the new manager needs to have a new team - coaching staffs need to support and compliment one another.  

[ziggy]

Joe Ryan gives his off season trips to Driveline a lot of the credit for helping his pitching career.

New head coach should get to pick his staff, not Falvey.  If the rumors of a sour culture are true it starts at the top, with Falvey and his smug attitude.

[Doctor Wu]

Yep, a new manager should signal a new coaching staff too. By all means, let's go out and find a more capable or inspirational hitting coach. 

[TopGunn#22]

There's no way ANY of the current coaching staff remains.  And none of them have much of a leg to stand on warranting their continued employment.  

In yet another VERY confusing statement from Falvey, he says he'd like to help select the new coaching staff once the new manager is hired.  I can understand "helping," but the insinuation was that he would do the picking.  What potential Manager from outside the organization would accept THAT ??

The Twins have gone so far off the rails that it seems pretty obvious to me that the new Manager should come from OUTSIDE the Twins organization.  Unbiased eyes need to assess and determine what kind of talent is needed to turn the Twins around.  Sadly, I can't see Falvey allowing that as it would be an admission of failure on his part.

I'd like to see someone like Skip Schumaker, but I'd be very surprised if the Rangers don't hire him.  Bruce Bochy is a legend, I can't see him going anywhere but back to the Giants and Buster Posey.  There may be some firings yet to come that will add to the potential pool of candidates.

Talk of Tori Hunter, Nelson Cruz and Justin Morneau is nonsensical.  None of them have ever even managed a Little league team as far as I know or even been a base coach.  Having Hunter coaching our outfielders and/or Cruz being our primary hitting instructor would be just fine with me. 

I have a feeling it will be Toby Gardenhire which would be a huge non-starter for me.  This last season the Saints weren't very good and I don't think Toby has won any minor league Championships.  A promotion would be ridiculous. 

Rocco was the first major head on the chopping block.  His entire staff shouldn't be far behind.  I don't really have an idea how urgent the Twins timeline is to hire a new Manager.  Will they address this before the post season ends?  Or wait until the World Series is over?    

[nicksaviking]

I wouldn't close the door on any of the coaches on the pitching side; the rotation and bullpen have been good for years when healthy. And not traded to every corner of the country. But I'd leave those decisions to the new manager.

But based on how many times Derek Falvey said 'collaboration' in his last press conference, I'm quite confident the new manager isn't picking his coaches.

[tony&rodney]

Christian Vazquez had some interesting quotes about coaches. He mentioned that there are 26 different personalities and completely separate styles of pitching and hitting on a roster at any one time, which is even more complicated by the shuffling of players on and off the active roster. Vazquez says that it takes time and trust to build relationships with the coaches. Changing coaches has a negative effect on the team as a whole.

I think this was from a newspaper article and I have paraphrased from my admittedly declining memory. The article made a lot of sense to me. When I was new to a position, progress was slow. Once my reputation was on solid ground, my words, views, suggestions found open ears.

Looking around baseball it seems like those coaches who are around for several years have more perceived success. Carl Willis comes to mind. The messages are surely quite similar. The perception of the individual listening is important and that takes some time.

It seems like a manager needs to be a listener who accumulates all of the thoughts, needs, and feelings of the coaches and players and makes decisions based on what he hears as well as thinks. The noise from voices outside the dugout are problematic in my opinion. Front office personnel have a job to do: the financial decisions, sales, management of the minor league side, and player movement in consultation with the manager on the needs of the roster. When the front office determines a baseball style or philosophy, weaknesses are bound to occur. 

[tony&rodney]

9 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

But based on how many times Derek Falvey said 'collaboration' in his last press conference, I'm quite confident the new manager isn't picking his coaches.

Those of us on the outside do not really have the answers to what ails the Twins franchise. We have a host of thoughts.

In 9 years under Falvey there has seemed to be a directive from his office on how the Twins will play baseball. He has used the word 'collaboration' quite often. In my 50 years of working that word generally meant people will meet often, discuss many things, and then do as they were directed.

Does anyone on Twins Daily believe that Rocco Baldelli made all of the decisions from filling out the lineup card to the end of the game without directives? Were the coaches directed in a particular mode of thought? 

Hey, maybe things will work better next time, but the front office controlling the coaches and manager doesn't seem to be a model for success. 

The comments by Falvey, on repeated occasions, that the Twins had all of the talent needed to win in each of the last two years were most telling to me. Did anyone pick the Twins to win the World Series? 

Why does it seem obvious where the current problem with the Twins progressing forward resides?

Any individual offered a job as a coach for the Twins would be wise to demand a 4-5 contract at a decent salary. I know of a couple MLB coaches who did precisely that and their standing has only risen in time. The constant shifting of coaches cannot be a good thing for the players or the team.

 

[DJL44]

49 minutes ago, TopGunn#22 said:

Talk of Tori Hunter, Nelson Cruz and Justin Morneau is nonsensical.  None of them have ever even managed a Little league team as far as I know or even been a base coach.  Having Hunter coaching our outfielders and/or Cruz being our primary hitting instructor would be just fine with me.    

I'm pretty sure I've heard Morneau talking about coaching his kids. 

Torii Hunter would be a great fit as a first base coach - no real in-game responsibilities besides keeping things loose and gathering equipment.

[Permanent Twins Fan]

Most likely the new manager will want new pitching and hitting coaches. I'm not entirely sure how much of a difference the coaches make, but there has been a lot of struggles on the hitting side. It is Borgschulte's first year, so I will be surprised if he gets let go but I will not be upset if the Twins decide to move on from either Maki or Borgschulte. 

[Otaknam]

Baldelli was too enamored with analytics, which is likely why he was hired by Falvey. I hope the new manager will use analytics, but not make almost all decisions based in just that. How about using some manager intuition, such as leaving a young starter in the game when he is very effective. Rocco dogmatically would remove a young starter so he doesn’t have to face a lineup for a third time, as dictated by a computer algorithm. Show some confidence in your starters to work deeper into games, instead of overworking the bullpen. I think that was one reason Sonny Gray left, lack of respect for letting him pitch deep into games. 

[Otaknam]

Unfortunately, any manager under consideration would have to totally buy into analytics. Analytics has its place but shouldn’t preclude the manager deviating and using his intuitive ability to make decisions, especially those that impact the starters. Shelton should get some consideration, as he seems highly respected, but was dealt a losing hand in Pittsburgh. Tori Hunter would bring some energy to the club, but he doesn’t have any managerial experience. Still, he would be an exciting hire.

[old nurse]

15 minutes ago, Otaknam said:

Baldelli was too enamored with analytics, which is likely why he was hired by Falvey. I hope the new manager will use analytics, but not make almost all decisions based in just that. How about using some manager intuition, such as leaving a young starter in the game when he is very effective. Rocco dogmatically would remove a young starter so he doesn’t have to face a lineup for a third time, as dictated by a computer algorithm. Show some confidence in your starters to work deeper into games, instead of overworking the bullpen. I think that was one reason Sonny Gray left, lack of respect for letting him pitch deep into games. 

You did not pay attention to pitch counts. Good outing, bad outing, older pitchers got into the 90s with pitch, younger ones 80.  It has been pretty consistent that way the last few years with the pitchers. 

[old nurse]

Collaboration. If the manager doesn’t like the coach, they don’t get hired. If the front office doesn’t like them, they don’t get hired.  Not that hard to figure out, nothing wrong with that process.  No need to have an ineffective pitching coach for a decade because they are buddies with the manager 

[William K Johnson]

The first step in getting quality coaches would be the dismissal of Tommy Watkins.

[DJL44]

I think Maki is a good coach. The Twins have done a good job with the pitching staff for several years. They have taken mediocre minor leaguers and made them more effective by adding velocity and spin. They appear to have "fixed" Taj Bradley in a couple months. Several of the relievers they traded performed worse for their new team.

[Doctor Gast]

4 hours ago, TopGunn#22 said:

There's no way ANY of the current coaching staff remains.  And none of them have much of a leg to stand on warranting their continued employment.  

In yet another VERY confusing statement from Falvey, he says he'd like to help select the new coaching staff once the new manager is hired.  I can understand "helping," but the insinuation was that he would do the picking.  What potential Manager from outside the organization would accept THAT ??

The Twins have gone so far off the rails that it seems pretty obvious to me that the new Manager should come from OUTSIDE the Twins organization.  Unbiased eyes need to assess and determine what kind of talent is needed to turn the Twins around.  Sadly, I can't see Falvey allowing that as it would be an admission of failure on his part.

I'd like to see someone like Skip Schumaker, but I'd be very surprised if the Rangers don't hire him.  Bruce Bochy is a legend, I can't see him going anywhere but back to the Giants and Buster Posey.  There may be some firings yet to come that will add to the potential pool of candidates.

Talk of Tori Hunter, Nelson Cruz and Justin Morneau is nonsensical.  None of them have ever even managed a Little league team as far as I know or even been a base coach.  Having Hunter coaching our outfielders and/or Cruz being our primary hitting instructor would be just fine with me. 

I have a feeling it will be Toby Gardenhire which would be a huge non-starter for me.  This last season the Saints weren't very good and I don't think Toby has won any minor league Championships.  A promotion would be ridiculous. 

Rocco was the first major head on the chopping block.  His entire staff shouldn't be far behind.  I don't really have an idea how urgent the Twins timeline is to hire a new Manager.  Will they address this before the post season ends?  Or wait until the World Series is over?    

Yeah, it's crazy. The managers that are worth having, will never agree to these terms. IMO, part of the selection process filter may have them agree with the terms of him having a say with coaching selections. So, I doubt Maki will leave & the hitting coach will probably stay. The firing of Baldelli is just another one of his cosmetic moves (only appearance but does nothing to help the Twins). He will only hire another Baldelli.

[Doctor Gast]

4 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

Christian Vazquez had some interesting quotes about coaches. He mentioned that there are 26 different personalities and completely separate styles of pitching and hitting on a roster at any one time, which is even more complicated by the shuffling of players on and off the active roster. Vazquez.

I like to focus on just this point. IMO, like was stated there are so many personalities & styles, that it makes so much sense for coaches focus on each player & work with each individual's strengths, instead of forcing everyone in one mold. What made coaches Rowson, Swanson & Wes Johnson so effective was that they worked individually so well with each player. That should be what Twins look for as a requirement in selecting a coach & policy.

[CRF]

Good or bad, right or wrong...the next stop for Maki and Borgshulte is the unemployment line. (Yeah, I know an unemployment line doesn't exist anymore...I'm showing my old age) Ok...the unemployment website! Just as long as they take Watkins with them when they go!

[Parfigliano]

13 hours ago, ziggy said:

Joe Ryan gives his off season trips to Driveline a lot of the credit for helping his pitching career.

New head coach should get to pick his staff, not Falvey.  If the rumors of a sour culture are true it starts at the top, with Falvey and his smug attitude.

Real change means bye-bye Falvey.  Rocco is just re-arranging deck chairs.

[the_brute_squad]

A complete coaching staff reset is needed.

[Doc Lenz]

Article mentions Rocco had input into coaching staff. I believe 100%. Some on here have said on other articles he had no input which I believe is a total farce and this article says so!

[Danchat]

On 10/1/2025 at 9:50 AM, Otaknam said:

Baldelli was too enamored with analytics, which is likely why he was hired by Falvey. I hope the new manager will use analytics, but not make almost all decisions based in just that. How about using some manager intuition, such as leaving a young starter in the game when he is very effective. Rocco dogmatically would remove a young starter so he doesn’t have to face a lineup for a third time, as dictated by a computer algorithm. Show some confidence in your starters to work deeper into games, instead of overworking the bullpen. I think that was one reason Sonny Gray left, lack of respect for letting him pitch deep into games. 

The next manager will manage starters the same way, because the vast majority of MLB managers do this. Sonny Gray has been getting pulled at the same rate as when he was a Twin. A lot of our minor league starters are being pulled after 3 innings / 60 pitches, so it's another issue that stems from an earlier level. That's where the game of baseball is going, whether we like it or not.

[Jacksson]

On 10/1/2025 at 9:33 AM, tony&rodney said:

" When I was new to a position, progress was slow. Once my reputation was on solid ground, my words, views, suggestions found open ears."

" The perception of the individual listening is important and that takes some time."

"It seems like a manager needs to be a listener who accumulates all of the thoughts, needs, and feelings and makes decisions based on what he hears as well as thinks. " 

My own experience in the workplace is that there are two types of manager.  Either they are participially or dictators.  At the same company with the same executive structure.  With one I had almost immediate rapport.  My participation was encouraged and respected.  If the boss wanted to go a different direction than what I proposed, the reason was explained.  This strengthened my understanding of his "style" and allowed me to grow as a person and in my capacity as an employee.  In the other case, the dictator went against everything I suggested, leading me to discontinue making suggestions.  I became his puppet and retreated into being a one dimensional employee.