MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL, MN – The Minnesota Twins announced today that they have hired Jayce Tingler as bench coach and David Popkins as hitting coach for the 2022 season.

Tingler, 40, spent the last two seasons as manager of the San Diego Padres, guiding the club to a 116-106 (.523) record from 2020-21. He led the Padres to the National League Division Series in 2020 and finished second in National League Manager of the Year voting that season. Prior to taking the helm in San Diego, he held a variety of positions across 13 seasons with the Texas Rangers organization (2006-19), serving as the club’s bench coach for the final week of the 2018 campaign and as the Major League Player Development Field Coordinator in 2019.

The Smithville, Missouri native was selected by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 10th round of the 2003 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of Missouri. The former outfielder played parts of four seasons in the Toronto (2003-05) and Texas (2006) systems before shifting to coaching. Tingler’s coaching career began in 2007 as hitting coach for the Rangers’ Dominican Summer League team and he ascended from there, serving in the organization as Dominican Summer League Manager (2008-09), Arizona League Manager (2010), Coordinator of Instruction (2011), Minor League Field Coordinator (2012-14), Field Coordinator (2015-16) and Assistant General Manager (2017-18) before joining the major league staff.

Popkins, 31, most recently served as the 2021 hitting coach for the Great Lakes Loons, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ High-A affiliate. Under his guidance, the Loons led the High-A Central Division in home runs (187), slugging percentage (.456) and OPS (.800) last season; the club’s 187 homers were third most among the 90 Single-A and Double-A clubs, while the .800 OPS ranked sixth. A native of San Diego, California, he played collegiately at the University of California, Davis before spending three seasons in St. Louis Cardinals system from 2012-14. The former outfielder reached as high as Double-A and batted .278 (237-for-854) with 48 doubles, 11 triples, 14 home runs, 96 RBI and a .755 OPS in 256 career minor league games. Popkins then spent three seasons playing independent baseball in the Frontier League (Washington Wild Things) and American Association (Sioux Falls Canaries) before joining the Dodgers organization as a minor league coach. He was slated to be Los Angeles-NL’s Rookie-level Arizona League hitting coach in 2020 prior to the cancellation of the minor league season.