More Minnesota Twins Manager Candidates Surface, Both Familiar

It’s official. A couple of weeks after kicking Rocco Baldelli to the curb, the Minnesota Twins are on the hunt for a new manager. On Tuesday morning, news broke that a request had been put in to the Boston Red Sox, to interview their bench coach.

Hours later, that same MLB Network and New York Post reporter, Jon Heyman, put out two more realistic candidates that the MN Twins have touched base, both of whom will sound very familiar to the local fanbase.

Minnesota Twins trying to bring the Bomba Squad back?

According to Heyman and his confidant at The Post, Joel Sherman, Falvey and his front office have received permission from the New York Yankees, to interview their hitting coach, James Rowson, for their vacant manager position.

The Yankees have granted the Twins permission to speak with Rowson about their vacant managerial position, league sources confirmed to The Post…on Tuesday.

The upbeat, well-regarded 49-year-old remains a popular figure in Minnesota, as he spent plenty of time catching up with members of his former organization when the Yankees visited Target Field in September.

NY Post

Rowson — who has never been an MLB manager — took over as the Bronx Bombers’ hitting coach before the 2024 season. Prior to that, he was the assistant hitting coach for the Detroit Tigers (2023), a temporary job he held for one season, after being let go as Miami Marlins bench coach, a job he held for two seasons, from 2020-2022.

For four seasons from 2017 to 2019, however, James Rowson made a name for himself as the hitting coach of the Minnesota Twins Bomba Squad, which set an MLB record for team home runs his final year on the job, before he was hired away for a promotion in Miami.

Twins speaking to Bomba Squad coaches James Rowson and Derek Shelton

Coincidentally, the other candidate the Twins have been in contact with, according to Heyman, is another assistant coach who left after that 2019 season, Derek Shelton. The now 55-year-old served as Rocco Baldelli’s bench coach from 2018-2019, before he was hired away to be manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Former Pirates manager Derek Shelton and Red Sox bench coach Ramon Vazquez are among the other candidates for the job, which opened up when the Twins fired Rocco Baldelli following their 70-92 season.

NY Post

Related: ALCS Favorite Thankful for Fired Twins Coach

Shelton held that position for the start of five seasons, until the Pirates fired him 38 games into 2025. Clearly, he wasn’t the biggest problem in Pittsburgh, being the Pirates went on to finish with a 71-91 record, just one game better than the MN Twins’ 72-90.

As manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Derek Shelton went 306-440. Before he worked for the Minnesota Twins for two seasons, Shelton coached in the Cleveland (2005-2009), Tampa Bay (2010-2016) and Toronto (2017) organizations.

Interesting enough, both Rowson and Shelton were seriously considered for the Twins manager job back in 2018, before they landed on Baldelli. Both guys stayed/came on as assistants — advanced their careers from there — and now find themselves in the same situation.