Former Twins hitting coach is a candidate for their manager vacancy

Make it not one, but two reportedly confirmed candidates for the Twins' managerial opening. Joining Red Sox bench coach Ramon Vazquez on the list of Minnesota interview requests is Yankees hitting coach James Rowson, who once held that same role for the Twins under two different managers.

NY Post insider Jon Heyman was first to report that the Yankees have granted the Twins permission to interview Rowson for their vacancy.

Rowson, 49, is a New York native who played a few seasons of minor league baseball in the Mariners' and Yankees' systems in the 1990s. He began his coaching career as a minor league hitting coach with the Angels' organization, then became the minor league hitting coordinator for the Yankees. He joined an MLB staff for the first time with the Cubs in 2012.

Before the 2017 season, Rowson was hired as the Twins' hitting coach under manager Paul Molitor. He remained in that role when Rocco Baldelli took over as Twins manager in 2019. That year, the 'Bomba Squad' Twins set a major league record with 307 home runs and won 101 games, marking just the second 100-win season in franchise history.

After the 2019 season, Rowson left to become the Marlins' bench coach for three years. He spent 2023 with the Tigers and has spent the last two seasons as the Yankees' hitting coach. Led by Aaron Judge, the Yankees have had arguably the best offense in baseball over the past two years. Judge has always been great, but New York also got career years from players like Trent Grisham, Jazz Chisholm Jr., and Ben Rice, which Rowson likely contributed to.

While acknowledging that roster talent obviously matters, it's worth noting that the Yankees led the league in home runs and OPS in 2025. The Twins were tied for 11th in homers and were 17th in OPS.

Rowson would be the first Black manager in Twins history.

In addition to Vazquez and Rowson, Heyman's story also mentioned that former Pirates manager and Twins bench coach Derek Shelton is a candidate for Minnesota's opening. Shelton got his first MLB assistant coaching job with Cleveland in 2005, had a long stint with the Rays, and was the Twins' bench coach under Baldelli — on the same staff as Rowson — in 2018 and '19.

Shelton then spent the past five-plus seasons as the Pirates' manager before being fired in May of this year. He went 306-440 in Pittsburgh, but a talent-lacking roster and payroll limitations played into that lack of success.