After overseeing baseball’s top regular season offense in 2025, Yankees hitting coach James Rowson is attracting interest from the Twins.
The Bombers have given Minnesota permission to speak with Rowson about their vacant managerial position, a source confirmed to the Daily News. The New York Post’s Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman first reported the Twins’ interest in the 49-year-old coach.
Minnesota is looking for a new skipper after going 70-92 this year and firing Rocco Baldelli.
Rowson previously served as the Twins’ hitting coach from 2017-2019. The 2019 team set an MLB record with 307 home runs, which the Braves tied in 2023.
Once a minor leaguer in the Yankees and Mariners’ systems, Rowson has also held various hitting-related jobs with the Tigers, Cubs and Angels. He spent three years as the Marlins’ bench coach under Yankee great Don Mattingly from 2020-2022.
A Mount Vernon, New York native who went to high school in the Bronx, Rowson served two coaching stints with the Yankees organization prior to joining Aaron Boone’s staff before the 2024 season. He was the Yankees’ minor league hitting coordinator from 2008-2011 and from 2014-2016. He also worked as the hitting coach for Single-A Tampa from 2006-2007.
With Rowson serving as the big league hitting coach, the Yankees have ranked first in home runs, on-base percentage, BB%, wRC+ and fWAR; second in slugging percentage and OPS; third in runs and RBI; and ninth in average over the last two seasons. In 2025, they ranked first in runs, home runs, RBI, BB%, slugging, OPS, wRC+ and fWAR before being eliminated from postseason play in the ALDS.
Charismatic and eager to defend his players, Rowson is a popular figure in the Yankees’ clubhouse, where he has tried to cater to hitters’ individual preferences and found unique and fun ways to disseminate the endless amounts of information available to players. Aaron Judge has been a fan since their days in the Yankees’ minor league system, and Rowson previously coached Jazz Chisholm Jr. in Miami.
