James Rowson, the Yankees’ current hitting coach at the Major League level, is slated to interview for the vacant manager position with the Twins.
He was the hitting coach of the Twins for multiple years, being part of the record-setting 2019 Minnesota squad that hit the most home runs for any team in league history.
In two seasons as the Yankees’ hitting coach, New York is second in OPS (.774), first in wRC+ (118), and first in home runs (511), being the best offense in the American League by a significant margin over that timespan.
Minnesota is hoping to have a thorough managerial search after letting Rocco Baldeli go, and Rowson is among many candidates under consideration for the role.
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Twins Could Pluck Yankees’ Hitting Coach This Offseason
The Yankees’ offense has objectively been very successful under James Rowson, who took an offense that finished inside the bottom 10 in Runs Scored during the 2023 season and transformed them into a top-flight lineup.
Even after the team lost Juan Soto, the Yankees found a way to score more runs in 2025 than they did in 2024, getting breakout seasons from Ben Rice and Trent Grisham, who hit a combined 60 home runs.
Cody Bellinger and Jazz Chisholm had some of the best years of their career as well, and Aaron Judge has two consecutive years with a wRC+ greater than 200 over that stretch as well.
New York has hit for a higher average while still generating plenty of slug under Rowson, and the question becomes who would replace him as the hitting coach if the Twins decided to hire him.
Pat Roessler is currently the Assistant Hitting Coach and worked in Player Development for the Yankees before, so he could be elevated to the Hitting Coach role if Rowson was hired away.
You could also speculate about Jarret DeHart, who is the currenty Director of Hitting for the Yankees right now, as the team moved Dillon Lawson from the Director of Hitting to their Hitting Coach after the 2021 season.
It will be interesting to see if James Rowson is hired iaway, but it will also be interesting to see if he gets other opportunities to manage down the road.