Twins Hire Mark Hallberg As Bench Coach

The Twins finalized their 2026 coaching staff. Most of the moves had been previously reported, but Minnesota revealed the hiring of Mark Hallberg as bench coach. They’ve also added Mike Rabelo as an assistant bench coach and Toby Gardenhire as field coordinator.

The rest of Derek Shelton’s first staff in Minnesota was already known: pitching coach Pete Maki, hitting coach Keith Beauregard, bullpen coach LaTroy Hawkins, base coaches Grady Sizemore and Ramon Borrego, assistant pitching coach Luis Ramirez, and assistant hitting coaches Rayden Sierra and Trevor Amicone. There are five holdovers from Rocco Baldelli’s staff.

Hallberg, 39, heads to the Twin Cities after eight seasons in the Giants organization. He coached and managed in the minor league system for a couple years before joining the MLB staff in 2020. Hallberg has spent the past four seasons as a base coach in San Francisco and interviewed for their managerial vacancy over the 2023-24 offseason. (The job went to Bob Melvin.) Hallberg coincidentally steps into the job that had been filled by Jayce Tingler for the past four seasons. Tingler left the Twins to join Tony Vitello’s first staff in San Francisco.

Rabelo was part of the Pirates’ coaching staff between 2020-25. Shelton was the manager in Pittsburgh for most of that time. The 45-year-old had a three-year run in the big leagues as a part-time catcher. He has also coached in the Detroit organization and was most recently Pittsburgh’s third base coach.

Gardenhire, as one can probably infer, is the son of longtime Minnesota skipper Ron Gardenhire. Toby, 43, had a brief minor league playing career in the organization and has managed in their farm system since 2018. He has spent the past five seasons leading their Triple-A affiliate in St. Paul. He now gets the promotion across town to join an MLB staff for the first time.