Word broke late Thursday from George A. King III of the New York Post that the Minnesota Twins were hiring Yankees minor league hitting instructor James Rowson as their hitting coach at the MLB level, replacing Tom Brunansky, whom the team let go following four seasons with the team in that role.
Rowson, who turned 40 in September, was a ninth-round pick by the Seattle Mariners out of Mount St. Michael High School in the Bronx in 1994 — 11 picks before future MLB closer Keith Foulke. Rowson played left and center field in the Mariners and Yankees organizations for three seasons and landed with the Independent Cook County Cheetahs in 1998 before calling it a career on the playing side.
Rowson was with his hometown Yankees for six seasons before joining the Chicago Cubs as their minor-league hitting coordinator. After Rudy Jaramillo was fired as the team’s hitting coach during the 2012 season, Rowson was elevated from his minor-league post to the big leagues, where he spent a season and a half before returning to the Yankees following 2013. After the Yankees let Kevin Long go as hitting coach following 2014, Rowson was considered a candidate to either assume the lead role or be the assistant. The Yankees ended up going with Jeff Pentland and Alan Cockrell in those roles respectively, instead.
Pentland lasted just one season in the role, while Cockrell was promoted for the 2016 season. According to LoHud Yankees Blog, Rowson — who was very popular among the players — was a candidate again after this season but ultimately didn’t get the job.
Rowson is mentioned in Matt McCarthy’s book “Odd Man Out: A Year on the Mound with a Minor League Misfit” which chronicled the author’s one season spent as a left-handed pitcher in minor-league baseball. McCarthy pitched — rather poorly, for what it’s worth — for the Rookie-Level Provo Angels in 2002, a team that was managed by Tom Kotchman. Kotchman was named the “hardest working man in baseball” by Sports Illustrated in 2014 and is coming off his third season of managing the Gulf Coast Red Sox. Kotchman is revered in the game, and is a member of the Professional Baseball Scouts Hall of Fame — as is former Twins general manager Terry Ryan.
Rowson was the hitting coach on that club, dubbed “Black Magic” by Kotchman. For what it’s worth, Rowson is African-American, and McCarthy has taken considerable flack for the accuracy of the book, which came out during spring training in 2009.
Not much is available online about Rowson’s hitting philosophies, but he has worked with some of the more revered hitting prospects in recent Yankees history, including Gary Sanchez, Aaron Judge, Greg Bird and Tyler Austin.
Here’s some interesting reading on the team’s new hitting boss:
Chicago Tribune, June 22, 2012 – “New batting coach stresses attacking strike zone.”
Scranton Times-Tribune, June 12, 2016 – “Railriders Q&A: James Rowson.”
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News broke during Wednesday’s introductory conference call with new catcher Jason Castro that Ryan would be joining the Phillies organization as a special assignment scout.
Chief Baseball Officer Derek Falvey declined comment on the situation during the conference call out of respect for Castro, but had maintained during his introductory conference that he was open to keeping Ryan around in some capacity in the Twins organization.
New Twins General Manager Thad Levine told Cold Omaha that he was energized to be working in the footsteps of someone so revered and respected as Ryan. “He might be the best talent evaluator of all-time,” Levine said. “He should be in the Hall of Fame.”
The connections run deep in the Phillies organization for Ryan. The team’s President of Baseball Operations is Andy MacPhail, whose 1994 departure for the Cubs opened the door for Ryan’s first tenure as the team’s GM. MacPhail was hired in 1984 as the team’s Vice President of Player Development, while Ryan joined the organization sometime shortly thereafter.
According to Ryan’s statement furnished by Philly.com: “I’m very happy to be joining the Phillies and have the opportunity to provide some impact and evaluation,” Ryan said. “This is an exciting time for the franchise as they have what many in the industry consider to be one of the top farm systems in baseball.”
Ryan wasn’t the only Twins former GM on the move, as Bill Smith is reportedly moving on as well.
David A. Dorsey of The News-Press in Fort Myers followed up with an exhaustive, well-reported story that closed with suggesting that the ouster wasn’t by Smith’s choosing. Smith’s contract expires at the end of January, Dorsey notes, and will not be renewed.
Smith has been much maligned over the J.J. Hardy and Johan Santana trades, but also presided over the 2009 signing period which saw the team ink Jorge Polanco, Max Kepler and Miguel Sano. He has also been instrumental in the development of Hammond Stadium, which Dorsey’s article touches on in considerable depth.
