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Seeking a fresh voice for their underachieving young players, the Minnesota Twins have made Rocco Baldelli the youngest manager in the major leagues.
The Twins hired Baldelli, 37, on Thursday, bringing the Tampa Bay player, badistant and coach to Minnesota for his first job as a manager. He replaces Paul Molitor, who was fired after four seasons with a 305-343 record. Baldelli will be the first major league manager born in the 1980s.
Baldelli spent last year 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 co-ordinator, badisting Cash and the bench coach Charlie Montoyo with in-game strategy, working with the outfielders and focusing on the continued development of the team's young players.
Later Thursday, the Toronto Blue Jays Montoyo thing, 53, to be their new manager.
When the Twins' chief baseball officer, Derek Falvey, and General Manager Thad Levine announced Molitor's dismissal about three weeks ago, they expressed a desire for deeper connections with millennial players.
"Today's player is growing demanding on coaches and managers relating to relationships and motivation and those spells of things," Levine said then. "We need to continue to help you in this area, in this new generation of player."
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 A.L. wild-card game in 2017.
Before joining the coaching staff with the Rays, Baldelli was a special badistant in the front office of the team, which 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 American League 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 in 62 games for the Boston Red Sox. In 2008, he went into the race for the Rays in Game 7 of the A.L. Championship Series against the Red Sox and homered for the Rays 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.
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.
In Toronto, Montoyo will succeed John Gibbons, who was let go after the Blue Jays finished 73-89.
Montoyo, who is a Puerto Rican, has a three-year contract with a club option for 2022. He is at home to a conference Monday.
Blue Jays General Manager Ross Atkins said in a statement that Montoyo is "a highly regarded leader" with "a superior ability to connect and report."
Montoyo will be responsible for the development of top prospect Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who is expected to join the Blue Jays in April.
Before joining the parent club, Montoyo spent 18 seasons managing the Rays' minor league system. He won seven International League South Division titles and two Governors' Cup championships with Clbad AAA Durham. He also worked with the Puerto Rican team at the 2009 World Baseball Clbadic.
A second baseman who was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in 1987, Montoyo spent 10 seasons in the minors. His only major league experience was a four-game stint with the Montreal Expos in 1993.
Gibbons went 791-787 in 11 seasons during two stints managing Toronto, leading the team to A.L.C.S. appearances in 2015 and 2016. Toronto had lost records in 2017 and 2018.
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