Twins announce departure of four coaches, including hitting coach David Popkins
10/02/2024 04:40 PM
None of the team's three hitting coaches will return for the 2025 season.
Immediately after the Twins' elimination from the 2024 postseason, fans and media alike wondered if the late-season collapse would lead to dismissals of President of Baseball Operations Derek Falvey and manager Rocco Baldelli.
But while ownership and higher-ups have confirmed their confidence in those two team leaders — and that they will be returning in 2025 — the same cannot be said for the rest of the coaching staff.
As announced by the Twins on some decrepit social media site today:
We have announced the following changes for our coaching staff: pic.twitter.com/HCnyJeBBK4
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) October 2, 2024
The coaching departures include all three of the team's hitting coaches, most prominently David Popkins. Despite his supporters including Carlos Correa, the Popkins-led all-or-nothin' approach at the plate produced far too much nothin' in recent seasons, Minnesota most infamously setting the single-season team strikeout record with 1,654 Ks in 2023.
Departing along with Popkins will be co-hitting coach Rudy Hernandez, a decade-long dugout resident and aide to the hitting department, and assistant hitting coach Derek Shomon, whose ejection from a Twins/Pirates matchup in June brought loads of dunking for hollering at the umpire while being the assistant hitting coach.
Last out of the staff is infield and assistant bench coach Tony Diaz. I'm not an expert at defensive stats but by all modern measures, the Twins were pretty dang bad with the glove in 2024, ranking 28th in double play runs above average (minus-4.8), 25th in total defensive runs saved above average (minus-19), and last in ultimate zone rating (minus-30.4).
Per beat writer Do-Hyoung Park, none of the other coaches' jobs are in Jeopardy and they are all expected to return in 2025. What the new staff and coaching philosophy will look like is still to be discovered, but the willingness to make changes in areas of coaching weakness should bring back a mote of confidence into the breasts of Twins fans across the territory.
