Detroit lost a hitting coach to New York, so here are some suggestions for a replacement.
The New York Yankees hired Detroit Tigers assistant hitting coach James Rowson as their new head hitting coach on Monday afternoon. Rowson only spent one season in Detroit, so New York will be his third team in as many years. This is his third stint with the Yankees, having previously served as their minor league hitting coordinator from 2007 to 2012.
Rowson was probably unfamiliar to the average Tigers fan until the news broke that he’d been offered the job in New York a few days ago.He’s spent nearly two decades in key coaching roles, but never in the few high-profile positions in the major leagues until recently, making him one of the Tigers’ most experienced coaches last season.
A segment of online Yankees fans is complaining about the Tigers logo, and thus Rowson, lacking cache in their eyes. The Yankees, on the other hand, are likely to see him as an experienced hand who can right the ship. In 2023, they had the MLB’s 19th-ranked offense by wRC+ (and 29th-ranked offense by batting average). To be honest, that is far below their true talent level. Rowson won’t change anything, but he might be able to help them get it right. He’s also gotten some credit for his work with Aaron Judge while he was coming up through the Yankees’ farm system. That familiarity with their star player made him an appealing option.
While Rowson was likely a calming influence, he isn’t a significant loss to this particular staff. AJ Hinch has proven himself on the biggest stage, and they have a lot of experienced veteran coaches on the bench, including bench coach George Lombard, new infield coach Joey Cora, and outfield coach Gary Jones. With new school hitting coaches like Michael Brdar and Keith Beauregard instructing Tigers batters, having an experienced assistant to assist them made a lot of sense. We’ll see if the Tigers prioritize experience again or go young with someone like an upcoming Driveline coach.
Hinch has the ability to attract coaches from all over the country, making it extremely difficult to predict who will fill Rowson’s vacated position. But, just for fun, here are three mildly irresponsible and completely speculative guesses for who might be on the Tigers’ list of candidates: Anthony Iapoce, Sean Smedley, and Rachel Folden.
Last offseason, the Red Sox traded Anthony Iapoce to Detroit, and he spent 2023 managing the Toledo Mud Hens. He and Tigers President of Baseball Operations Scott Harris worked together in the Cubs organization, so the two had a natural reunion in Detroit. It’s unclear how hands-on he was with the Tigers’ hitting prospects, but the offensive performances of Colt Keith, Justyn-Henry Malloy, Parker Meadows, and others seem to point in his direction. Iapoce, on the other hand, has previously served as an MLB hitting coach, and serving as an assistant may hold less appeal for him than continuing in a managerial role with the Hens.
Sean Smedley is being promoted quickly by the Rays, and despite being only 32 years old, he managed the Double-A Charleston RiverDogs last season. Over the last three years, Detroit has consistently been willing to go to great lengths to bring in smart, young coaches on the rise. Rob Metzler, who they hired out of Tampa Bay’s front office last October, has already written the book on Smedley. Smedley appears to be a future MLB manager by all accounts. If Metzler recommends Smedley, Detroit could offer him a lucrative opportunity to begin his big league career under Hinch.
If Scott Harris and General Manager Jeff Greenberg want to continue leveraging their mutual Cubs connections, they might be interested in Rachel Folden. She’s arguably the most influential woman in baseball right now as the minor league hitting coordinator in Chicago, and Cubs prospects have flourished under her tutelage. Pete Crow-Armstrong and Owen Caissie, who play at different levels and arrived in different trades, both had offensive breakouts immediately after entering her system.
She previously ran her own softball hitting studio, employing biometric hitting analysis technology similar to that used by Driveline. She’s my favorite among these candidates, and she’s known as a skilled and innovative instructor. I’d be thrilled to have her work with like-minded Tigers hitting coaches Brdar and Beauregard.
