5 hitting coach candidates Minnesota Twins could target to replace David Popkins

After flaming out over the last month of the season, the Minnesota Twins wasted little time making some big changes.

The Twins parted ways with more coaches than the team ever has in an offseason that doesn't also include a managerial change. Hitting coach David Popkins was the most notable coach who Minnesota decided to move on from, and his job will be an important one for the team to fill.

Minnesota's offense wasn't bad, but it wasn't nearly as good as it needed to be. Inconsistencies plagued the team during Popkins' tenure; the Twins ended up in the Top 10 for in runs scored, but hit .228/.292/.354 and scored 3.6 runs per game over the course of their month-long collapse.

Popkins was under pressure going back to last summer and the offensive slump the team fell in, and now comes the important step of finding the right coach to replace him.

Potential Minnesota Twins hitting coach candidates to replace David Popkins

Eric Chavez, Co-Hitting Coach, New York Mets

A former slugger in his playing days, Eric Chavez has started to build a nice coaching career by bouncing around a bunch of different gigs with the New York Mets. One of those is his most recent, and arguably most successful, as he's served as co-hitting coach for a Mets team that has displayed some nice offensive surges.

We all saw what they did against the Atlanta Braves to clinch an NL Wild Card berth, and that offense has powered New York to the NLDS. Chavez helped New York finish with the ninth-best OPS in the league, as the Mets mashed 207 home runs this past season.

While he's alerady in a nice spot with a top team in the National League, Minnesota could offer him a promotion to the top hitting coach job. He's already worked with high profile hitters like Francisco Lindor, Pete Alonso, and Brandon Nimmo, which is something that could rub off nicely on guys like Royce Lewis, Jose Miranda, and Brooks Lee.

Hensley Meulens, Hitting Coach, Colorado Rockies

There's a scene in The Departed where Mark Wahlberg's character berates another member of the police crew by exclaiming "I'm the guy who does his job, you must be the other guy".

That seems to be Hensely Meulens, who is a well-respected hitting coach for a team that might not deserve his talents. Nothing about the Colorado Rockies screams "successful", but Meulens has managed to help a bad team take some strides.

Perhaps coming to Minnesota, where there is far more upside as far as talent and exposure, would be mutually benfecial. Meulens has been talked about as a potential managerial candidate and even interviewed for the Twins job back in 2019 after Paul Molitor was fired, so there's somewhat of an existing relationship. If he wants to get back on the managerial map, making a lateral move to Minnesota and helping turn the offense around could be a good way to do it.

Andy Haines, Hitting Coach, Pittsburgh Pirates

Usually when a coach is fired, he's not someone who jumps to the top of many lists. That shouldn't be the case with Andy Haines, who was let go by the Pittsburgh Pirates despite doing some really great things at a granular level that could pay off in the future.

Specifically, Haines worked with Oneil Cruz to tap into some of his potential and help him improve against left-handed pitching. To Twins fans, that could sound like a potential one-to-one comparison for what Haines might be able to do for Edouard Julien.

Reviving Joey Bart, who looked cooked after the Giants DFA'd him, is also a feather in Haines' cap that seems to suggest he could tap deeper into some of Minnesota's hitters. Imagine what Jose Miranda was able to do, but scaled across the entire Twins' lineup.

That's asking a lot of Haines, but he showed the right potential with some of what he did in Pittsburgh.