Twins interested in Royals third base coach Vance Wilson for vacant manager job
Royals third base coach Vance Wilson is among the Twins manager candidates, according to MLB's Matthew Leach. Wilson joins Yankees hitting coach James Rowson, Red Sox bench coach Ramón Vázquez, former Twins infielder Nick Punto, and former Twins coach and Pirates manager Derek Shelton on the list of names who have been interviewed or will be interviewed to replace Rocco Baldelli as the Twins' manager. Per MLB's Anne Rogers, Wilson also recently interviewed for the Giants' manager job, which Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello just filled.
Wilson, 52, has been Kansas City's third base coach for the past six seasons. Before that, Wilson worked as the Royals' bullpen coach for two seasons. He worked under three managers for the Royals in Ned Yost, Mike Matheny and Matt Quatraro. The Royals interviewed Wilson for an open manager position twice; he didn't get the job, but stayed on the coaching staff.
Before his coaching career, Wilson played parts of eight MLB seasons (1999-2006) as a backup catcher with the Tigers and Mets. The Mets drafted Wilson in the 44th round of the 1993 MLB June Amateur Draft from Mesa Community College. He began his career with New York, staying with the organization through 2004 before finishing his playing days with the Tigers from 2005-06. In 403 career MLB games, Wilson hit .250/.302/.377 for an 89 wRC+ with 25 homers and 129 RBIs in 1054 plate appearances.
It's been a trend among the league for teams to hire former catchers to be their manager with little to no managerial experience, and Wilson would fit that criteria, although he has coaching experience. The Cleveland Guardians hired former catcher Steven Vogt to be their manager in the 2023-24 offseason after just one season on the Mariners' coaching staff, and the former Athletics catcher led Cleveland to back-to-back postseason berths despite various obstacles. Similarly, the Cubs hired former catcher David Ross to be their manager in the 2019-20 offseason after firing Joe Maddon despite Ross having no managerial experience at the time. Chicago ended up moving on from Ross in favor of Craig Counsell, but the move said more about how front offices view Counsell as a manager rather than how they view Ross.