Oct. 2: In addition to Popkins, the Twins announced that assistant hitting coaches Rudy Hernandez and Derek Shoman will not return to the staff next season. Infield coach/assistant bench coach Tony Diaz also will not return to next year’s staff. The rest of the group is expected to return.
Oct. 1: The Twins have informed hitting coach David Popkins that he won’t back next season, per a report from Dan Hayes of The Athletic. His contract just ended with the conclusion of the 2024 season and will not be renewed.
Popkins has been the club’s hitting coach for the past three years, getting hired prior to the 2022 campaign. The first of those seasons saw the club finish 78-84, though that wasn’t really on the offense. The club hit a collective .248/.317/.401 for a wRC+ of 106, 10th best in the majors. 2023 was more successful, as the club went 87-75 and won the American League Central. Their hitters collectively slashed .243/.326/.428 for a 108 wRC+, tied for sixth in the majors.
For a long time, it seemed like 2024 was going to be another successful campaign for the Twins. They were in playoff position for most of the season but collapsed at the end, going 9-18 in the month of September and missing out on the postseason.
The team was still strong at the plate overall this year, with a line of .246/.315/.411 and a 107 wRC+ that was ninth in the league. That includes a dismal .218/.285/.338 line and 78 wRC+ in September as the club’s season slipped away from them.
It’s always tough to separate the influence of a coach from the performances of the players. Over the course of the three years where Popkins has been the hitting coach, most of the results have been good, though the most recent stretch of play obviously leaves a bad taste. Whether one wants to blame Popkins or not would be a matter of debate. Key players like Carlos Correa, Royce Lewis, Byron Buxton, Max Kepler and others missed significant time with injuries this year and were either off the field or perhaps not playing at 100% health during the September swoon. Regardless, it seems the club has decided to go in a different direction for 2025.
HALLELUJAH. The Twins finally did something right.
Off topic a bit, but Buxton got into 102 games this season, which he hasn’t done since 2017 when he got into 140 games. If you can get 100 games out of him next season, it’ll only help the team’s chances of making the playoffs.
Warden – You’re not wrong, but that applies to more than just Buxton. While he often headlines the Twins’ injured list, the team was full of injuries this season. The Twins will need Correa, Joe Ryan, Justin Topa, and many others to be healthy as well next season, especially if the front office and ownership continues with the mentality that they don’t want to spend money on additional players.
If you get the majority of those guys to be even somewhat healthy, Twins can definitely win the AL Central.
Warden of the North(acoss13);
You’re writing that when you don’t even know the 4 other teams rosters in 2025, let alone the Twins.
“…. with the mentality that they don’t want to spend money on additional players.”.
HopefulTwinsFan;
I know this is crazy to ask, but how about the Twins develop some of their own players?
MLB is not rotisserie league. Ask Yankees and Dodgers fans.
The same Yankees and Dodgers fans who have celebrated a combined 6 World Series titles since the last time the Twins won?
Canuckleball;
What a stupid comment. The kind I see too much of here that always gets some thumbs up’s.
How many administrations have the Twins, Dodgers, and Yankees had since the Twins last won?
How have the Dodgers and Yankees done the past 15 years? Top 3 in player salaries each year, one WS win during a COVID season…when many MLB players elected not to play.
Boy, it just never gets old hearing this guy telling us that MLB is not rotisserie league. We get it, you don’t like “rotisserie league.” Come up with something new, will ya?
Hammerin’ Hank;
You and those that liked your post…..
Tell me where I’m wrong.
P.S. Just Mute me. I don’t care.
@warden
Buxton had a really good season this year
No!! Now I must retire all my David S. Pumpkin GIFs.
Mariners should hire him in case Edgar doesn’t come back id take a top 15 hitting coach
Hopefully Tommy “Send ’em Home But Wait Don’t Send ’em Home” Watkins is next. What a worthless coach – both at 3B and as the OF coach.
Jayce Tingler too. these September collapses are very Padres-like…. coincidence?
Jayce Tingler sounds like a completely made up name.
And here all along, I thought his name was Tayce Jingler.
That’s awesome.
He had a sister named Mary.
She’s Mary Popkins y’all!
I thought it was Shari Bobbins.
Send Joe Pohlad packing……
leave him alone. he has a business to run
He’s really trying to run a business, but it’s not good enough! Change things up Twins….
Twins fans: if an extraordinary amount of things go right each season, we should be running away with the AL Central every year.
Nope
That’s true for every team. You cannot win the WS without being at least a little lucky. You need at least a couple guys to have excellent years, and you need most people to stay healthy, and then you need your call-up/fill-in guys to perform well, and then you can’t get screwed by weird stuff like bad calls in inconvenient moments. No one is good enough on Opening Day to be waving a trophy in November without some help, it’s just too hard a league and too long a season.
David Poppins you don’t say? Hit more like Mary Poppins
Hitting coaches are getting fired all over the league. When are the Rangers going to take their turn?
Offense was down across the league this season so it makes sense that a bunch of hitting coaches might get the axe.
Having said that, considering the league likes to mess with the baseballs, it’s within reason that a deadball sanctioned by the league might be responsible. In other words, the league may actually have gotten a bunch of guys fired through it’s own tampering.
Which metrics, exactly, distinguish between a dead ball and a live one?
DashaToushu;
Have you checked under the floorboards in your bedroom? It’s possible that there are little green human like beings waiting for the right time to attack you.
Heard it from your neighbors that have tracking devices in their smartphones.
P.S. They even have photos of those creatures having what looks like miniature baseball bats protruding from where humans have ears.
1st day after regular season is hitting coach dismissal day. Every year a few of them are cut loose on this day.
So he was the one who quit hitting down the stretch ?
They should go for their former AAA hitting coach and current Orioles ‘Co’-Hitting coach, Matt Borgschulte.
He doesn’t teach fundamental baseball. You have to be able to teach power ball, and small ball. Especially these days when the pitching is so good. Find ways to get on base. Maybe they’ll get a good ex twin to be the next hitting coach.
It’s all about the hips and lower half of your body. Not hard.
So these guys got cut but not Rocco? Huh. Interesting.
Ruth and the other greats before 1960 didn’t need a hitting or pitching coach so I don’t see why they need one now. Just go out there and hit the ball. If you can’t hit the ball, you don’t deserve to be in the MLB.
There weren’t dozens or hundreds of guys throwing 95-99mph with hellacious breaking stuff in 1921. There weren’t detailed video breakdowns of every one of your swings in 1960. There weren’t any black or asian pitchers throwing back then, so the pool of potential arms was smaller and less deeply exploited.
And in 1968 no one could hit the ball, with a league-wide batting average of .230 (.339 SLG!) was even worse than this year. The pendulum swings all the time, and some years it’s against the hitters. Learn some history.
@crise
If the pendulum always swings, clearly, you just proved that the hitting/pitching coach is unnecessary.
And you must remember, they did allow pretty much any type of pitch, including spitballs and screwballs. Even had guys throwing in the mid-90s but again, they used that when they needed to not throwing max effort all game in the mid-90s. Pitchers pitched back then. Today, they just chuck for 4 or 5 innings.
Sacrificial Lambs, Mgr. led collapse aided by GM.
Maybe an unpopular opinion, but I would start by shopping Buxton. If nothing else, just to see what’s available. He’s another one of those guys who is made of glass (MOG) and can’t stay on the field. Send him to the Angels so they can add him to their collection of MOG guys who make a ton of money and can’t answer the bell 150 times a year. While they’re at it, see if Kris (MOG) Bryant is available, too…
Everyone is getting rid of bad coaching staffs and managers. All the pirates did was unload Haines, terrible hitting instructor and a bullpen coach. Haines getting axed was great. But the albatross MORON manager is the worst manager in the history of the game. Picks a different lineup out of a hat for every game. Sits in the dugout, clueless as hell. Needs fired immediately.
Why is Baldelli still there? He cannot manage a pitching staff