The Twins hire a former Rays player, coach Rocco Baldelli, as manager

Although Rocco Baldelli lost his time as a player, his baseball career was just starting to take off.

The mind and the heart can be powerful forces.

In search of a new voice for their underachieving young players, the Minnesota Twins turned Baldelli, 37, the youngest major league coach on Thursday by hiring a wanted candidate who interviewed four other teams. for vacant positions.

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

"I like to have fun." I like that players love to show themselves in this environment, in this pavilion, "said Baldelli, adding," I have the impression that when the guys are relaxed and having fun on the field, they play their best.

Baldelli has spent the last four years on the staff of Rays coach Kevin Cash, the first three as the first goal coach. His role for 2018 was a newly created position called Field Major League Coordinator, helping coach and money coach Charlie Montoyo to implement his strategy, work with field players and focus on the continued development of the young players of the team. Montoyo was hired Thursday as manager by Toronto.

Baldelli's latest experience is exactly what Twins baseball director Derek Falvey and general manager Thad Levine are looking for. They were enthusiastic with their praise for Molitor for his insight, character and flexibility, but the closest Falvey and Levine came to expose a specific reason for Molitor's dismissal when they announced it a little more of three weeks: players hoping for increased productivity in the field.

"It connects exceptionally well with people. His humility, his openness, but also a strong sense of opinion. He has a lot of ideas to help the players, "said Falvey, 35.

Meeting at a Target Field press conference with his parents, two brothers, a long-time girlfriend and a close childhood friend, Baldelli defeated Falvey, Levine and the dozens of other people who met him in the organization with honesty and affability.

"He will meet guys one-on-one and find opportunities to improve as a player. I think that's what today's manager needs to do, "Falvey said. "They must connect to each player at an individual level."

Twin thrower Jake Odorizzi, who was acquired from Rayons, made an unsolicited endorsement of Baldelli to Falvey after his candidacy was reported.

"One thing Jake really said is that players want to come to him to find out what he thinks of their game," Falvey said. "It's about the same statement you're never going to hear."

Even though Molitor, 62, could have done more, the 2018 season was a disaster for center player Byron Buxton and third baseman Miguel Sano, both players have long been the cornerstones of franchise. The Twins finished 78-84 after playing the game with AL in 2017.

Buxton, 24, was again injured and battled again, so much so that he spent the last four months in Triple A, although Buxton won a Gold Glove. Awarded in 2017 and has 46 flights in 51 career attempts, his base percentage on more slugging is only 672 in 306 games in the major leagues.

Sano, 25, also had a worst season in 2018 after being part of the star team the year before. He spent six weeks in the minor leagues for a repackaging of his work habits and a mid-season hitting approach. He was eliminated 115 times in 299 appearances at the plate with the Twins.

Prior to joining the coaching staff with the Rays, Baldelli was a special front-line assistant to the team that took him sixth overall in 2000 when he finished high school in Rhode Island. Baldelli made his Rays debut at age 21 in 2003, finishing third in the AL rookie of the year vote after beating .289 with 51 more successes and 27 stolen goals. He received the nickname "Woonsocket Rocket" for his hometown and his speed on the field.

The only year he spent his professional career outside the Rays was 2009, when he played 62 games for Boston. In 2008, he took part in the race to conquer the Rays in the seventh game of the AL Championship Series against the Red Sox and was recognized in the fifth game of the World Series the following week. He was however injured for most of his career, and a rare condition causing muscle fatigue eventually forced him to retire after the 2010 season.

Baldelli will be the 14th manager of the Twins since the transfer of the franchise from Washington in 1961, only their fourth manager since the age of 36, Tom Kelly, took office in 1986 and his first manager outside the company. Organization since Ray Miller in 1985.

Cash, who is 40, is the youngest manager behind Baldelli. The Twins of Falvey and Levine over the past two years have plunged much deeper into the era of the big old data-based game, with special admiration for what Rays have invented. They hired Josh Kalk, an expert in launch analysis at Rays, as a senior analyst before the 2018 season, during which the Twins began copying the Tampa Bay experience of launching games with pitchers. relief to maximize the benefits of the match-up.

"The people there have prepared me for everything, and I feel like that," Baldelli said. "They advised me. I'm talking about personal things in addition to baseball things. They have prepared me in every way to trust me to get out of the world, whether it's baseball or not, and do whatever I want. "

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AP freelance writer Brian Hall contributed to this report.

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