The Twins have hired former big league outfielder and former White Sox coach/interim manager Grady Sizemore to their coaching staff, reports Bobby Nightengale of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. He’ll serve as new manager Derek Shelton’s first base coach and will also be the team’s primary outfield and baserunning instructor. Last year’s first base coach, Ramon Borrego, will slide across the diamond and coach third base. Borrego will also continue working with the team’s infielders.
Now 43 years old, Sizemore tormented the Twins as a division-rival in Cleveland during his days as a player — particularly early in his career. From 2004-08, Sizemore looked like he was on a Hall of Fame trajectory. He made three straight All-Star teams, won two Gold Gloves and took home a Silver Slugger — a testament to his well-rounded excellence. By the time Sizemore was headed into his age-26 campaign, he’d already appeared in 682 MLB games and slashed .279/.370/.491 (127 wRC+) with 111 home runs and 117 doubles in 3109 plate appearances. Baseball-Reference valued his age-21 through age-25 seasons at nearly 26 wins above replacement. FanGraphs was more bullish, crediting him with more than 28 WAR.
Of course, injuries would derail that scintillating start to Sizemore’s career. After missing only a combined nine games from 2005-08, Sizemore never topped 106 games in a single season again. He underwent elbow surgery in 2009, knee surgery in 2010 and back surgery in 2012. Sizemore played sporadically from 2009-15, hitting a combined .238/.309/.393 in just 1615 plate appearances before retiring.
After several years away from the game, Sizemore wanted back into the sport badly enough that he took an internship with the Diamondbacks. A year later, he interviewed for and landed a job on the White Sox’ coaching staff. When Chicago fired then-manager Pedro Grifol late in the 2024 season, Sizemore served as the interim manager down the stretch. He was a candidate for the managerial vacancy that went to Will Venable last offseason but was still retained in 2025, holding the title of White Sox’ offensive coordinator.
Sizemore is the latest addition to what’ll be a largely revamped Minnesota coaching staff. Borrego and pitching coach Pete Maki have been retained, but much of the rest of the staff will look different under Shelton than it did under former skipper Rocco Baldelli. Former Twin LaTroy Hawkins has already been tabbed as the team’s new bullpen coach, and the Twins have moved on from third base coach Tommy Watkins, bench coach Jayce Tingler, catching coach/assistant bench coach Hank Conger and bullpen coach Colby Suggs. They’re reportedly eyeing Yankees hitting coach James Rowson as a potential bench coach under Shelton. Rowson was also the Twins’ hitting coach from 2017-19.
