Former Twins Piranha Circling as a Managerial Candidate

The Minnesota Twins fired manager Rocco Baldelli after a 70-92 season in which the front office needed to find someone to blame. Derek Falvey didn’t have immediate qualifications for the next in line, but the search has taken up steam in recent days.

There are now multiple known candidates to be contacted by the Twins. Player development is something of an intriguing topic for the person that comes in, but it also appears they may covet someone without previous managerial experience.

Obviously the greener the manager, the cheaper the paycheck will have to be as well. There was some though that Torii Hunter could be a consideration, but that front has been quiet. A very interesting former piranha has now emerged in the form of Nick Punto.

Nick Punto of interest to Minnesota Twins as manager

After the front office tore down the active roster at the trade deadline, Rocco Baldelli put a clear emphasis on a different style of play. Minnesota got aggressive and tried to play chaos baseball. No one is more synonymous with that line of thinking than the piranhas. Nick Punto was among the best of them, and The Athletic reports he’s now under consideration.

Multiple team sources confirmed to The Athletic on Wednesday that the Twins were granted permission by the San Diego Padres to interview Punto, who returned to the big leagues during the 2025 season as a coach for San Diego’s major-league staff, working with the team’s infielders among other duties. Punto had previously coached at Santa Margarita Catholic (Calif.) High since 2023. He managed in Major League Baseball’s Prospect Development Pipeline League in 2021.

The Athletic

Nick Punto was known as a grinder for the Minnesota Twins. Despite a career 76 OPS+ offensively (100 representing a league average player), he stuck around for 14 years and 1,163 games. That’s a testament to his clubhouse presence and work ethic.

Punto was a career .245/.323/.323 hitter. That would get anyone designated for assignment in today’s game. He battled at the dish, played all over the field, and never gave up an opportunity to compete. If you’re looking for drastic change in the managerial seat, then that would be one way to go about it.

It is interesting that Punto is under consideration while former Twins first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz is not. The latter had a strong track record of success in the minor leagues within the organization. However, he is more outspoken than Punto, and the front office could be looking for someone to still do their bidding on the field.

A manager must massage the message from the front office and create buy-in from the clubhouse. Punto being influenced by his first opportunity may be something that Derek Falvey sees as an opportunity to groom a green manager into what he wants him to be.

I’m all for the aggressiveness if Punto could bring that to the squad. We don’t need players sliding into first base though.

With candidates continuing to emerge, the Minnesota Twins barrel closer and closer to whittling the list down and selecting their next leader.