One year ago, the Twins made David Popkins their sacrificial lamb, hoping that a new voice of leadership for the hitting group could help reverse an offensive collapse that sank their 2024 season.
It didn’t work. Popkins went on to Toronto and enjoyed remarkable success with the AL Champion Blue Jays, while the Twins brought in Matt Borgschulte and watched basically all of their negative trends in the lineup worsen. One year later, Borgschulte is out and the Twins have brought in a new hitting coach.
Bobby Nightengale of the Star Tribune reported on Thursday that the Twins are hiring Keith Beauregard to take over the head role, with assistants Trevor Amicone and Rayden Sierra remaining in place. Unlike Borgschulte and Shelton, not to mention apparent bench-coach frontrunner James Rowson, Beauregard is a true organizational outsider rather than a retread. But one trait shared by all of these names is a background and specialization in hitting instruction, signifying the front office’s effort to fundamentally reshape this aspect of their club.
Here’s a deeper look at the journey that brought Beauregard to this point, and what he brings to the table as Minnesota’s new head hitting coach.
Keith Beauregard’s History in Baseball
Born on May 15th, 1983, Beauregard was a successful college baseball player at Saint Anselm in New Hampshire. He spent a few years playing independent ball, dabbled in real estate for a bit, and then was drawn back to the game, joining the staff at University of Massachusetts-Lowell as a hitting coach in 2011.
In two seasons, he distinguished himself to gain the notice of Santa Clara University, which hired him to their staff as an assistant in 2012. “Keith Beauregard will be missed,” said UMass Lowell head coach Ken Harring at the time. “He has a knowledge, passion and energy for the game of baseball that you can’t teach. His goal of becoming a full time coach came true and it is well deserved.”
In 2019, Beauregard took another step forward, reaching the pro baseball ranks by joining the Los Angeles Dodgers system as a hitting coach in the low minors. His role in the Dodgers organization grew until he was hired by the Detroit Tigers as an assistant hitting coach in 2022. After the 2025 season, the Tigers parted ways with Beauregard, making him available for the Twins.
Parallels to David Popkins
You don’t have to squint to see the shades of Popkins in this hire. Both were total outsiders with no previous connection to the Twins organization, and both got their start as professional coaches in the Dodgers farm system (where they “worked alongside” one another). Both of these guys were, and are, considered emergent instructional talents.
There are also some less-positive parallels, which may offer insight. Popkins was fired by the Twins in 2024 after a second-half collapse that saw Minnesota spiral out of playoff contention behind an anemic offense. Beauregard just departed from Detroit under starkly similar circumstances; although the Tigers made the playoff this year, they fumbled a surefire division title with a 28-37 post-break record, as their team OPS dropped by 50 points from the first half.
“Not a big surprise that someone would have to take some heat for the Tigers hitting performance in the second half of the season,” wrote Brandon Day on the Tigers blog Bless You Boys. “Beauregard probably just drew the short straw in that regard.”
We’ve seen with Popkins the kind of success a scapegoated, previously ascendant coaching talent can immediately experience with a change of scenery, and the Twins are hoping for the exact same outcome here.
Notable Success Stories for Keith Beauregard
It’s difficult if not impossible to quantify or specifically measure the impact of coach, particularly an assistant hitting coach, on a player’s success. But Beauregard does have his name attached to some notable development wins, including a familiar name.
In 2023, as James Outman embarked on what would prove to be an excellent rookie season for the Dodgers, Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times wrote about the ingredients in his rise from an unheralded seventh-round draft pick to a major-leaguer. Beauregard was part of the minor-league development staff that helped rebuild his “Caveman-like” swing, introducing an unorthodox method.
“[Outman] added a front leg kick to hone his timing and flattened what had been a strikeout-prone bat path — common staples of many Dodgers swing-change plans,” Harris wrote. “He also trained his front side to remain more stable and closed off. And he even embraced some unusual tactics from former minor league hitting instructor Keith Beauregard (now the hitting coach of the Detroit Tigers) to improve his coordination with his weaker left hand — a crucial component of his left-handed swing.”
The unusual tactic in question? Coloring books.
“Keith was saying, you got to learn to develop special skills with your left hand,” said Dodgers hitting consultant Craig Wallenbrock. “So he bought him a bunch of coloring books and crayons, and told him to start coloring in between the lines, keep it fine tuned.”
Outman is a pertinent example since he’s likely to be on the Twins roster next year, albeit not a crucial piece. Beauregard’s tenure in Detroit might be more meaningful in terms of his desired impact here in Minnesota. His offseason work with Tigers hitters is credited with helping lineup cornerstones like Riley Greene, Spencer Torkelson and Kerry Carpenter break through.
I don’t know what it will take to get key Twins hitters like Royce Lewis, Brooks Lee and Matt Wallner on track. But I hope Beauregard will have some fresh ideas. If not coloring books, at least he brings a blank slate.