Twins hire ex-Rays player, coach Rocco Baldelli as manager

Though Rocco Baldelli's time was a player was cut short by physical ailments, his career in baseball was only beginning to take off.

The mind and the heart can be powerful forces.

Seeking a fresh voice for their underachieving young players, the Minnesota Twins made the 37-year-old Baldelli the youngest manager in the major leagues on Thursday by hiring a sought-after candidate who interviewed for vacancies with four other teams.

The former Tampa Bay Rays player, coach and coach will be first-time manager, first in the major leagues born in the 1980s. He replaces Paul Molitor, who was fired after four seasons with a 305-343 record.

"I like to have fun. I say, "I like it when I'm in the clubhouse," said Baldelli, adding: "I feel like when they are relaxed and having fun on the field, they play their best."

Baldelli spent the last four years on the staff of Rays manager Kevin Cash, the first three first base coach. His role for 2018 was a newly created position of major league field coordinator, helping Cash and bench coach Charlie Montoyo with in-game strategy, working with the outfielders and focusing on the continued development of the team's young players. Montoyo was hired as manager Thursday by Toronto.

Baldelli's most recent experience is working with Derek Falvey and general manager Thad Levine. They were effusive with their praise of Molitor for his acumen, character and flexibility, but the closest Falvey and Levine came to the fore for a more specific reason for the loss of their relationship with the millennials. players in hopes of more productivity on the field.

"He connects exceptionally well to people. His humility, his open-mindedness, but also there is a strong sense of opinion there. He said, "said Falvey, who is just 35.

Joined at a news conference at Target Field by his parents, two brothers, longtime girlfriend and close childhood friend, Baldelli won over Falvey, Levine and the dozens of others who put him in the organization with his honesty and affability.

"He's going to meet one-on-one with guys and find opportunities to enhance whoever they are as a player. I think that's what today's manager needs to do, "Falvey said. "They need to connect to each player on an individual level."

Twins pitcher Jake Odorizzi, who was acquired from the Rays, made an unsolicited endorsement of Baldelli to Falvey after his candidacy was reported.

"One thing Jake really said that he was thinking about his game," Falvey said. "That's about resounding a statement as you're ever going to hear."

Whether or not the 62-year-old Molitor might have done more, the 2018 season was a mess for the Byron Buxton fielder and third baseman Miguel Sano, the two players long groomed to be the cornerstones franchise. The Twins finished 78-84 after making the AL wild card game in 2017.

The 24-year-old Buxton was still affected by injuries and struggled at the plate, so much that he spent the last four months in Triple-A. Though Buxton won a Gold Glove Award in 2017 and has 46 steals in 51 career attempts, his on-base-plus-slugging percentage is just .672 in 306 major league games.

The 25-year-old Sano also had a career-worst season in 2018 after making the All-Star team the year before. He spent six weeks in the minor leagues for a midseason reconditioning of his work clothes and hitting approach and struck out.

Prior to joining the coaching staff with the Rays, Baldelli was a special badistant in the front line of the team that drafted him sixth overall in 2000 out of high school in Rhode Island. Baldelli debuted with the Rays at age 21 in 2003, finishing third in the AL Rookie of the Year Award voting after batting .289 with 51 extra-base hits and 27 stolen bases. He picked up the nickname "Woonsocket Rocket" for his birthplace city and his speed on the field.

The only year when he was played by the Rays was 2009, when he played in 62 games for Boston. In 2008, he went straight into the race for the Rays in Game 7 of the AL Championship Series against the Red Sox and homered in Game 5 of the World Series the following week. Injuries has been reported to be most severe, but it has been caused by muscle fatigue after the 2010 season.

Baldelli will be the 14th manager for the Twins since the franchise relocated from Washington in 1961, only their fourth manager since 36-year-old Tom Kelly took over in 1986 and their first manager hired outside the organization since Ray Miller in 1985.

Cash, who is 40, is the next-youngest manager behind Baldelli. The Twins under Falvey and Levine over the last two years, with a particular admiration for what the Rays have pioneered. They hired Rays Pitching Analytics expert Josh Kalk has a senior badyst before the 2018 season, during which the Twins began copying Tampa Bay's experiment of starting games with high-pitched pitches.

"The people there have prepared me to do anything, and I feel like that," Baldelli said. "They've counseled me. I'm talking about things on baseball things. They are ready to go to the world, it is in baseball or not, and I do not know what it is.

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AP freelance writer Brian Hall contributed to this report.

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