Twins hitting coach James Rowson headed to Miami Marlins

James Rowson, who as Twins hitting coach watched his team set a major league record for home runs in 2019, has been hired as bench coach by the Miami Marlins, a league source confirmed.

Rowson will also have the title of "offensive coordinator" for the Marlins, who had the worst record in the NL at 57-105.

Rowson, 43, was a former minor league hitting coordinator for the Cubs and the Yankees when he was hired on former Twins manager Paul Molitor's staff for the 2017 season.

It's that Yankees connection that is in play here. Miami CEO Derek Jeter finished up his Hall of Fame-caliber career while Rowson was in the organization. Gary Denbo, Marlins vice president in charge of player development and scouting, held a similar role with the Yankees while Rowson was their minor league hitting coordinator from 2014 to '16.

Now Rowson will be Miami manager Don Mattingly's right-hand man. Rowson interviewed for the Twins' managerial opening a year ago before the club settled on Rocco Baldelli.

The Twins hit 307 homers in 2019 and were the first team with five hitters with at least 30 home runs and eight with at least 20. They were second in the majors in batting average and slugging percentage (behind Houston) and had the sixth-fewest strikeouts in MLB.

"I thought we'd hit some home runs," Rowson said in September. "You could see the power from the first day at spring training. I'm an optimistic guy, but even I can't stand here and tell you that I thought we'd put up some of these crazy numbers."

This is the second loss from the Twins' group of hitting instructors. Last week, minor league hitting coordinator Peter Fatse was hired to become the assistant hitting coach for the Red Sox.