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As Matt Borgschulte rejoins the Minnesota Twins organization as the MLB hitting coach, his track record speaks to a unique knack for refining and maximizing young talent. His experience with Orioles top prospect Jackson Holliday (and other young players) provides a blueprint that he can now apply to the Twins’ star-in-the-making, Walker Jenkins. For Twins fans, there's excitement in seeing Borgschulte return to familiar faces, like José Miranda, Ryan Jeffers, and Trevor Larnach. He guided these players during their development at the Twins' alternate site in St. Paul during the 2020 pandemic-shortened season.
Borgschulte’s Breakthrough with Jackson Holliday
While with the Orioles, Borgschulte helped fast-track Holliday’s rise as one of baseball's top prospects. His work with Holliday focused on two key areas: building a foundation of plate discipline and a mental framework to adjust seamlessly across different levels of competition. Borgschulte encouraged Holliday to work counts and select pitches he could drive. All of these qualities translate directly to Jenkins’s game, as he develops his power potential.
“You go through phases of swings,” Holliday said. “I was doing the no stride and I was spinning off balls. Now that I think I’m a little bit bigger and stronger and kind of understand my swing a little bit more, it was easier to go back to that. Last year, I did really well with the swing that I had with the leg kick, and I never really had to pull it out. Here we are now making adjustments in the big leagues.”
Borgschulte also cultivated Holliday's mental approach, using game scenarios and simulated at-bats to prepare him for the intense competition at higher levels. When Holliday initially struggled at the big-league level, Baltimore’s hitting coaches put together a plan for him and the minor-league coaches to study and implement. They showed images contrasting the poor swings with his ideal cuts at the ball and suggested drill packages to adopt. He returned to the big leagues later in the season with improved results. In the team’s final eight games, he went 7-for-13 with a double and five walks.
Jenkins, known for his raw power and athleticism, can learn to embrace this approach, allowing him to leverage his strengths without sacrificing the selectiveness and mental resilience that top hitters exhibit. Borgschulte’s experience instilling these values with Holliday makes him uniquely suited to develop Jenkins into a balanced, dynamic force in the Twins’ lineup.
The Twins selected Jenkins with the hopes that he could become a future cornerstone of the franchise, and Borgschulte’s blueprint offers a promising way forward. With Jenkins, Borgschulte will likely prioritize controlled aggression, similar to what he implemented with Holliday. He will guide him toward choosing pitches he can punish, while avoiding the overzealous hacks that can hinder a developing hitter. Jenkins is known for his keen eye at the plate, as he had a .394 OBP last season with more walks (56) than strikeouts (47).
While Jenkins has a strong foundation of natural talent, Borgschulte’s teaching style is well-suited to add nuance to his game. Building on Jenkins’s strengths, Borgschulte can introduce advanced concepts around pitch recognition and situational hitting, reinforcing that power isn’t only about swing mechanics but also about discipline, timing, and understanding the pitchers he’ll face. If he faces big-league struggles (like Holliday), he can formulate a plan that can be implemented at Triple-A to help him quickly return to the Twins.
Borgschulte's work with young prospects in the Twins organization was also on display shortly after he left for Baltimore. He worked closely with some of the team’s top prospects (Miranda, Jeffers, and Larnach) during the Twins’ 2020 alternate training site in St. Paul. This trio benefited from Borgschulte’s ability to provide individualized feedback and intensive reps in a unique training environment.
With Miranda, Borgschulte worked on unlocking the hitter’s natural contact skills by refining his approach to high-velocity pitches and honing his swing path. The work Miranda did at the alternate site laid the groundwork for his 2022 breakout season (141 OPS+ in 125 games). For Jeffers, Borgschulte focused on developing a more balanced stance that helped him adjust to pitches on the outer half, which has been instrumental in Jeffers's offensive improvements at the big-league level. Larnach benefited from an approach that emphasized plate discipline and power to all fields, areas he continues to work on today.
The Twins are betting that Borgschulte’s teaching philosophies, proven track record, and dedication to player development will foster a productive culture for young hitters like Jenkins, much as it did for Holliday in Baltimore. His return to Minnesota brings with it a reunion of trust and familiarity that could be pivotal for the next generation of Twins hitters.
For Twins fans, there’s excitement in seeing a coach who elevates individual players and creates a foundation that can help Jenkins, Miranda, Jeffers, and Larnach build upon each other's growth.
Can Borgschulte follow the same blueprint he used with Holliday with Jenkins? Leave a comment and start the discussion.
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