This offseason the Minnesota Twins had to make changes. After a 92-loss season, and Derek Falvey decided not to fire himself, someone else had to take the fall. Rocco Baldelli was at the center of it all, but plenty of coaches were sent packing too.
Last season the Twins made David Popkins the fall guy for their unfortunate collapse. This season they did the same thing and moved on from hitting coach Matt Borgschulte. It remains to be seen if he’ll have the same success elsewhere as Popkins did, but it didn’t take long to land a job.
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Borgschulte and Smarslok land with Nationals
There were plenty of things wrong for the Minnesota Twins in 2025. They didn’t win enough to keep the majority of the staff intact. Those coaches needed to find jobs elsewhere, and Matt Borgschulte wound up on the same staff as a former coworker.
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Blake Butera is taking over as manager for the Washington Nationals. He has tabbed Borgschulte as his hitting coach, and Tyler Smarslok as his field coordinator.
Minnesota hired Borgschulte in 2018 as the hitting coach for the Gulf Coast League. He continued to earn promotions and was in Triple-A by 2020. After working with the St. Paul Saints in 2021, the Baltimore Orioles made him their hitting coach. Borgschulte rejoined the organization last season, but made it just one year.
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The Nationals would love to see Borgschulte impact their lineup like Popkins did the Blue Jays this season. After being fired by the Twins, Popkins helped Toronto to the second-best lineup in the game. Washington’s lineup was 26th.
Smarslok worked as the defensive coach for the St. Paul Saints from 2021-2023. He was the team’s bench coach in 2024 before joining the Miami Marlins staff as their first base coach last season. Smarslok served as the infield and baserunning coach in Miami as well, and will hold new duties with the division rival Nationals.
Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images
The Twins hired several progressive-minded coaches during the initial stages of Falvey’s transformation for the organization. They have since grown more stale, as evident in the safe hire of Shelton and being outpaced within the baseball ops department.
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Minnesota kicks off Grapefruit League action at the end of February. What their team looks like, or how well they are set up to compete in the year ahead, remains to be seen.
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