MN Twins Unveil New Coaching Staff with Two More Hires

With the offseason now in full swing, the Minnesota Twins have been sorting out their new coaching staff. After Rocco Baldelli was fired, and Derek Shelton was brought in, there has been all sorts of turnover.

Bench coach Jayce Tingler left for the San Francisco Giants, and Tommy Watkins went to the Atlanta Braves. We already knew about LaTroy Hawkins, Grady Sizemore, and Keith Beauregard joining the staff, which is now complete and includes a couple major hires that had yet to be announced before today’s reveal.

New bench coach and another Gardenhire for the MN Twins

Derek Shelton’s bench coach has been a key person of interest, since the new manager was officially named. The MN Twins reportedly wanted Yankees hitting coach James Rowson for the job, but the stars seemingly did not align, after he was passed up for the Twins manager job, in favor of Shelton.

Instead, Minnesota’s new bench coach will be Mark Hallberg. The other coach rounding out the new staff will be a very familiar one, for Twins fans. It’s former Triple-A manager Toby Gardenhire, son of longtime MN Twins manager Ron Gardenhire.

Introducing our 2026 coaching staff! pic.twitter.com/O0I2GyC49T

— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) November 14, 2025

Hallberg is a 39-year-old former 9th round pick. He played 509 minor league games but never reached the majors. Most recently, he’s worked as the San Francisco Giants’ first and third base coach since 2021.

Gardenhire — who played 533 games in the minors for Minnesota, and started coaching in the organization as the Cedar Rapids Kernels manager in 2018 — has been considered in managerial searches previously. Since 2021, Toby has managed the St. Paul Saints.

Triple-A Managerial opening for MN Twins

With Toby Gardenhire earning a big league promotion, the manager position with the St. Paul Saints is now up for grabs. The minor league coaching staffs aren’t typically announced until later in the winter.

Carlos Hernandez and Jonas Lovin served as pitching coaches last season for the Saints. Shawn Schlecter was was the hitting coach. It’s possible any of them could be named the manager.

Former Twins big leaguer Brian Dinkelman managed Double-A Wichita last season. He has served in the organization for quite some time, and a promotion to Triple-A may make sense as well.