On Friday the Minnesota Twins formalized a move that was reported Thursday night as the club hired former Yankees minor-league hitting instructor James Rowson as their big-league hitting coach.
READ: Brandon Warne’s background story on new Twins hire Rowson
Rowson had spent the previous three years working in that position with the Yankees after spending two seasons in the Cubs organization. Rowson spent a year-and-a-half as the Cubs big-league hitting instructor following the firing of Rudy Jaramillo in June 2012. Prior to that, Rowson worked in the same role he assumed with the Yankees in 2014. Rowson was with the Yankees from 2006-11, and prior to that worked in the Angels organization from 2002-2005. The 2017 season will mark Rowson’s 16th in professional baseball.
Rowson was a ninth-round pick of the Seattle Mariners — the same round in which San Francisco selected Keith Foulke — in 1994 out of Mount Vernon, N.Y. and played three seasons in the Mariners and Yankees organizations before playing in the Indy Leagues in 1998.
“We are excited to add James Rowson to our major league coaching staff,” said Twins Executive Vice President/Chief Baseball Officer Derek Falvey in a team-released statement. “James is someone who possesses all of the attributes of an impact coach and he’s held in high regard by those who’ve had the chance to work alongside him. It was clear to Paul, Thad, and myself that James is the perfect fit for our organization moving forward.”
Rowson addressed the media on a conference call on Friday afternoon, and the key theme he kept coming back to was relationships.
“I looked at the roster and saw the amount of young players that are there, and the excitement that’s around these young players and thought it’s just a great opportunity and was looking forward to just becoming part of something special,” Rowson said.
Leaving the Yankees wasn’t easy for the New York native. Not only did he grow up in New York and play for the Yankees in the minors but after two stints with the team on the minor-league side, Rowson admitted leaving wasn’t the easiest thing to do.
“Honestly it was very tough in terms of the relationships that were built there,” Rowson said on Friday. “The people in the New York organization have been great to me. The group that I worked with — especially over the last three years — in player development is one of the best groups in player development that I’ve worked with. It was very tough because there’s a strong bond there with the people. That was tough for me. But I’m excited and my family is excited about this opportunity that’s in front of us right now. We’re really ecstatic to get going with the Twins organization.”
Rowson comes highly recommended from the Cubs organization, a connection manager Paul Molitor tapped into. Dale Sveum was the manager when Rowson was the hitting coach for the Cubs, and Chris Bosio was the pitching coach. Both were teammates of Molitor in Milwaukee in the mid-80s, and some believe the Twins would have liked to hire Bosio for Molitor’s staff in previous seasons.
“Obviously we try to do what we can and get as much information either before or after the interview takes place,” Molitor said. “I did reach out to those guys who had connections with James in Chicago. There was a lot of affirmatives. There was nary a word or thing said about anything that would be red flag-ish. We got a lot of information that was about knowledge, passion and connection. So, from the guys that I talked to over there as well as other people, it was pretty much consistent down the line. A lot of affirmation about James potentially being a choice for us.”
Rowson had a lot of good things to say about his time with the Cubs, especially about his opportunities to develop relationships with young players who have become great big-league players — including one in particular. His position with the Cubs also evolved from the minor-league side to the big-league side, something he touched on.
“i’ve learned in my career a lot of times you make a lot of progress when the coaches learn to listen.” – James Rowson
“There’s definitely differences in the minor-league and major-league positions,” Rowson said. “From the Cubs, it’s interesting. The players and the game change from time to time. You have different players with different strengths, and you get to learn that. But, in terms of how you go about it, there’s so much of the importance on building relationships. It was really exciting to be a part of Anthony Rizzo just getting to the big leagues and going through that with him when he got there with the Cubs, and seeing a young player develop into some of the things he’s developed into now. You just build relationships is what I’d say. The difference for me is that I’m excited to come in here with a new group of players and get to know them and know what they like and see how we’re going to go about starting this partnership to get their skills to where they want them to be and where the club would like to see them. But the game is all about relationships for me, that’s No. 1 and that’s where you start with everything you do.”
To reiterate, building relationships was a recurring theme for Rowson, and he said it’s a two-way street between a coach and a player. While the general consensus might be that a coach tells a player what to do and the player responds, Rowson also said he’s amenable to players telling him what they want to do, and what has made them successful.
“You listen. It’s real important,” Rowson said when asked about how he handles players who are more set in their own old ways. “It’s called a “coach” and everyone thinks the coach is always the one who is talking. I’ve learned in my career a lot of times you make a lot of progress when the coaches learn to listen. When a player feels strongly about something, he’s looking to be successful at what he does. If he has a strong feeling about something he does or someone that he’s worked with or something he’s done in the past, I think the right thing to do is to hear that out and take it as far as you can. You try to get on the page that he’s on if you feel it’s successful. If he feels that you believe in what he’s doing and you’re willing to listen, a lot of times I’ll find out that you build a relationship that they may start to listen to you and ask your thoughts on particular situations. The most important thing to do with that player at that point is to listen and ask him more questions than tell him what to do. You just kind of ask him about what he does.”
An underrated aspect of Rowson’s communication will be relating to Latin-born, Spanish-speaking players. Some of the key cogs in the Twins offense moving forward are native Spanish speakers, so there’s a potential communication barrier he’d have to break down with those guys. Fortunately, he’s got a secret weapon in his back pocket.
“My wife is from Puerto Rico. My Spanish is not that great, and she gets on me all the time,” Rowson said with a laugh. “Over the years it’s kind of funny…it’s kind of like baseball talk. I can understand players. You know, we have good dialogue. I kind of speak a little Spanglish, because I can mix the Spanish and English together. I’ve never had any issues. I’ve never coached in Winter Ball, but I’ve had lots of young players from the Dominican Republic and Venezuela and everywhere else in Latin America, and have built great relationships with those guys. So I think you work together, and it’s kind of fun when you start working through some of the language things, it’s amazing how you can use that to build relationships with players as well.”
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The Twins also announced the passing of Tom Mee on Friday morning at the age of 88. Mee is widely regarded as the first full-time employee in team history, and was not only a member of the team’s Public Relations department but also an Official Scorer.
According to the club, Mee began his baseball career in 1957 with the St. Paul Saints — then a Triple-A team — before joining the team for the inaugural 1961 season. He received the Robert O. Fishel Award for PR excellence in 1988 and retired from the department in 1991. He became the second person to ever receive the Herb Carneal Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007 and was inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame in 2013.
In 2010, the Twins named their library the “Tom Mee Library,” which is located in the Communications Office on the service level of Target Field.
The team released this official statement on Mee’s passing:
“The Minnesota Twins are deeply saddened by the loss of Tom Mee, who was widely regarded as the organization’s first employee. A respected colleague, Mee had many roles within the organization, including serving as the Director of Media Relations, a position he held for 30 years. He was a professional who dedicated his life to Twins Baseball. The club, like many of his friends throughout the game, are thinking of his wife Noreene and the entire Mee family during this difficult time.”
