Twins announce 2022 Minor League staff assignments
MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL, MN – The Minnesota Twins today announced minor league managerial and coaching assignments for the 2022 season. For the third consecutive year, all six affiliates will have two pitching coaches, one of whom is bilingual (English and Spanish), while the top three levels employ five-person coaching staffs.
Triple-A St. Paul Saints
Toby Gardenhire returns for his second-consecutive season as manager of the St. Paul Saints after leading the club to a record of 67-63 and a third-place finish in the Triple-A East Midwest Division in 2021. It marks Gardenhire’s fourth managerial campaign in the Twins’ organization (High-A Fort Myers in 2019 and Low-A Cedar Rapids in 2018), compiling a record of 218-184 (.542). Ryan Smith will be the Saints’ hitting coach, after serving in the same capacity for Double-A Wichita in 2021 and Low-A Cedar Rapids in 2019. Cibney Bello and Virgil Vasquez will serve as the Saints’ pitching coaches. Bello will mark his seventh year as a coach in the Twins organization and second at the Triple-A level, while Vasquez is in his eighth year in the organization and joins the Triple-A staff after serving as Double-A pitching coach last season. Tyler Smarslok will return for his second season with the Saints as the club’s defensive coach. Ben Myers will be St. Paul’s trainer, while Cody Drouin will join the Saints from Eastern Kentucky University as the club’s strength coach, his first assignment in the organization.
Double-A Wichita Wind Surge
Ramon Borrego, who has guided his last four clubs to the Postseason, will manage Double-A Wichita again in 2022 after guiding the Wind Surge to a 69-51 record and a first-place finish in the Double-A Central North Division last season. Borrego has managed 11 seasons at various levels in the Twins organization, compiling a managerial record of 445-387 (.535). Derek Shomon will join the Wind Surge as hitting coach after spending the 2021 season in the same capacity for Low-A Fort Myers. Peter Larson and Dan Urbina will serve as the club’s pitching coaches. Larson, who spent 2021 as a pitching coach for Low-A Fort Myers, returns for his fourth year in the Twins organization, while Urbina will mark his fourth season with the Twins organization, including last season as a pitching coach for the Florida Complex League Twins. Joe Mangiameli will return to Wichita as the club’s defensive coach after serving as catching coach in 2021. Tyler Blair joins the Wind Surge in 2022 as lead athletic trainer after spending two seasons as trainer for Cedar Rapids. Both Taylor Carpenter and John Gentile will join the Twins organization as Wichita’s assistant athletic trainer and strength coach, respectively.
High-A Cedar Rapids Kernels
Brian Dinkelman returns as manager at High-A Cedar Rapids after a successful 2021 campaign in which the Kernels finished 67-53 for the second-best record in the High-A Central West Division. The 2022 season will be the eighth year as a coach in the organization for the former Twins infielder and his third campaign as manager for the Kernels, compiling a record of 145-115 (.558) in 2019 and 2021. The Kernels hitting coaches will be Jairo Rodriguez and Shawn Schlechter. Rodriguez returns for his 15th year in the Twins organization and second straight with the Kernels after serving as a coach in 2021, while Schlechter moves up from serving as the hitting coach for the Florida Complex League Twins in 2021. Mark Moriarty and Richard Salazar will serve as the club’s pitching coaches for the second-consecutive season, with Moriarty beginning his third season as a coach in the Twins’ system and Salazar his fifth. Head Trainer Matt Smith begins his third campaign in the Twins organization and first with the Kernels after working with Fort Myers and the complex staff the last two years. Randy Yang has been named the club’s assistant athletic trainer, after a brief stint with the Twins last season. Jake Needham will serve as the Kernels’ strength coach, joining the organization from Midwestern State University where he held the same role.
Low-A Fort Myers Mighty Mussels
Brian Meyer, who led the team to a 60-54 record in 2021 after originally being hired last winter as the club’s hitting coach, returns for a second season as the manager for the Low-A Fort Myers Mighty Mussels. Meyer, who took over as skipper following the retirement of Aaron Sutton, spent three seasons at Butler University (2017-19) and five at Tulane University prior to joining the Twins. Takashi Miyoshi will be the club’s bench coach after managing the Florida Complex League Twins for two seasons. Rayden Sierra will be the hitting coach again in 2022; he joined the Mighty Mussels in April 2021 after previously serving as an assistant coach at Florida Southwest College. The Mighty Mussels’ pitching coaches will be Jared Gaynor and Carlos Hernandez. Gaynor enters his fourth year as pitching coach in the Twins organization, while Hernandez begins his fifth year in Minnesota’s system and third straight in this role. Chase Thompson will be the club’s lead athletic trainer and Thaddeus Hayes joins as assistant athletic trainer; both are in their first assignments with the Twins organization. Additionally, the Mighty Mussels’ strength coach will again be Evan McDonald, while their coordinator of baseball technology will be Byron Oliver.
Rookie-level Florida Complex League Twins/Lee County Sports Complex
Seth Feldman will manage the Florida Complex League Twins, his first stint with that team and fourth in the organization, after managing the Dominican Summer League affiliate for the last two seasons. The FCL team and complex staff will include four hitting coaches, as newcomers Andrew DiTullio, Emilio Guerrero and Luis Reyes join returnee Yeison Peréz. The team’s pitching coaches will consist of a pair of returning coaches in former major leaguer Calvin Maduro and 2021 hire Bobby Hearn, alongside newcomer Erick Julio. Brad McKenney will be the team’s analytics coach and Anders Dzurak will serve as the rehab pitching coach. Asja Morello will serve as the lead trainer for the club, with Katie Lortie and Kimberlie Scales as the assistant trainers. Matt Anti and Sarah Szuba will be the strength and conditioning coaches, with Colin Feikles serving as the rehab strength and conditioning coach. Dennis Colon, Nathan Denning, Christian Hintz, Danielle Honnette and Edwin Porras will be the physical therapists for the FCL team and the complex.
Rookie-level Dominican Summer League Twins
Rafael Martinez will take the helm of the Dominican Summer League Twins, his first campaign in the organization. Ricardo Nanita returns for his second season as one of the DSL Twins’ hitting coaches; he is joined by Ruben Santana, who shifted to a coaching role after playing in the Twins’ system from 2015-21. DJ Engle returns for his second season as DSL pitching coach, after joining the organization last year from McPherson College, where he was head coach. Kevin Rodriguez will be the other pitching coach, a role he’s held since 2018. Jimmy Alvarez will serve as the infield coach and has been part of the DSL’s staff since 2009. The DSL medical staff will consist of trainers Carlos Frias, Wladimir Morales and Camille Pacheco, along with strength and conditioning coaches Miguel Cabrera, Jean Castillo and Juan Carlos Pinto.
Player Development Staff and Minor League Coordinators
Alex Hassan enters his fifth season in the Twins organization and third as director of player development. Drew MacPhail and Tommy Bergjans return as assistant directors of player development, and Brian Maloney enters his sixth season as senior manager of minor league operations.
Additionally, Kevin Morgan will return to his previous role as minor league field coordinator, after spending 2021 with the major league staff; he joined the Twins in 2020 after a 25-year stint with the New York Mets organization. Edgar Varela will be the coordinator of instruction, after serving as the club’s hitting coach from 2020-21. Justin Willard returns for his second season as pitching coordinator and fifth year with the Twins, and Zach Bove will mark his third year as assistant pitching coordinator and fourth in the organization. Nat Ballenberg, who joined the Twins in 2019 as a coach with Fort Myers, will serve his second season as special projects pitching coordinator. Bryce Berg moves into the role of hitting coordinator in his third year in the organization, after spending 2021 as the hitting coach in Cedar Rapids. Tucker Frawley will serve as infield and catching coordinator and mark his third season with the organization. Former Triple-A manager Mike Quade is back for his fifth campaign as outfield coordinator.
Chad Jackson enters his 21st season with the Twins as minor league medical administration coordinator. Bryan Housand joins the Twins as minor league ATC coordinator after spending 20 years with the Pittsburgh Pirates, including 2018-20 as head major league athletic trainer. David Rak begins his sixth year as minor league strength and conditioning coordinator. Axel Lopez will serve his fifth season as Latin American medical coordinator.
Tyler Schmitz is the manager, baseball technology and Kevin Marable will serve as the coordinator, baseball technology. Martijn Verhoeven is the assistant director, sports science. Matt Cheesman will serve his fourth season as minor league equipment manager. Matt Tramp returns as Triple-A clubhouse manager and baseball operations assistant. Victor Gonzalez is back for a fifth campaign as Florida operations manager and Jason Davila returns as Florida operations assistant manager. Linda Merlo will again be the club’s language and cultural development supervisor. Kara Lynch enters her third season with the Twins and second as director of performance nutrition, with Alana Widen serving as the performance nutrition assistant.