When the Minnesota Twins announced their new coaching staff in November, two new names caught many people’s eyes because they played a combined 31 seasons in MLB: LaTroy Hawkins and Grady Sizemore.

Hawkins spent the first nine seasons of his career with the Twins. He has been a special advisor to the front office and a part of the Twins broadcast crew since his retirement. Sizemore, a former Twins killer during the peak of his career with Cleveland, has been a coach for several seasons with a brief stint as the Chicago White Sox manager at the end of 2024.

Along with assistant bench coach Mike Rabelo, these three men are the only ones on the coaching staff with MLB experience. Twins manager Derek Shelton had plenty of options when deciding who to bring into his first coaching staff in Minnesota. However, when it came to those who have experience in the highest moments of the game, Hawkins and Sizemore were two guys he couldn’t pass up.

“I think Hawk and Grady were the two guys that I targeted right off the bat,” Shelton said in a Zoom Call last November. “I mean, Hawk was a little bit easier because of the fact that he was within the organization. That was a very quick conversation and obviously offered him the job. With Grady, it took a little bit longer, but he is someone that I targeted.”

Shelton had lunch with Hawkins early in the hiring process and wanted to be sure he was ready to step away from his off-field roles with the Twins to be the bullpen coach. However, Hawkins had prior coaching experience. He was a pitching coach for Team USA in the WBC Premier 12 tournament and for MLB’s Dream Series, a development event on Martin Luther King weekend for African-American high school players.

Hawkins was waiting for the coaching opportunity in the big leagues. Once it came with the organization he knows best, he couldn’t pass it up. He knows he has big shoes to fill. He thought about what Rick Stelmaszek, Minnesota’s bullpen coach from 1981 to 2012, would have thought if he had lived to see Hawkins take on his former job.

“He’s probably rolling over in his grave saying, ‘LaTroy. What are you doing!?’ Hawkins joked last month. “It’s a good chance to get back in the game and just give these guys something they’re not used to getting. They’re getting so much other information, numbers, and exFIP, everything with these stats. I think I bring a little bit of touch of, as I always said, from the done-did-it school.”

Sizemore also comes from the done-did-it school of great base running and stellar defense. He had four consecutive 20/20 seasons from 2005 to 2008, as well as one 30/30 season. Sizemore also won back-to-back Gold Gloves in 2007 and 2008. He brings plenty of experience for a young crop of outfielders looking to make the same impact he did in the majors.

“Shelton was a big part of why I came over here, and there was a comfort level and a relationship that we had already built,” said Sizemore. “So I’m excited to see him in this side of things and not in the hitting coach role, and like I said, just be an asset to him in any way I can, and learn from these guys and learn from the players, and try to come up with a game plan to get the best versions of these guys.”

The players are just as hyped as some Twins fans are to have these two MLB All-Stars on the coaching staff.

“LaTroy is a 20-year big leaguer, has a ton of experience, been around, played for multiple teams,” said Twins reliever Kody Funderburk. “So I’m really excited for him to share that wealth of knowledge that he probably has with us. It’s just different. I’ve never been around a coach that has had as much experience as he’s had, so super excited to work with him and to pick his brain.”

11-year veteran Twins lefty Taylor Rogers echoed a similar sentiment.

“Get later in your career, you kind of think about places you want to be, and this was top of the list,” said Rodgers. “Obviously, I enjoyed my time here originally, and then with Shelton and LaTroy and everything, it was just my No. 1 option.”

Minnesota’s top prospect, Walker Jenkins, has been in Sizemore’s ear all camp.

“I’ve been asking Grady a decent amount of questions and just kind of watching how Buxton goes about his game, and his business,” said Jenkins. “It’s been great, man. It’s been a lot of fun with all these guys, and to just learn from them and see how they go about their business.”

With plenty of excitement around Hawkins and Sizemore joining the coaching staff, their done-did-it experience will help specialize the team in different ways. In his role as the base-running coach, Sizemore intends to build on the mantra from former Twins manager Rocco Baldelli post-trade deadline. He wants the.

“I think on the bases and being aggressive is definitely a way to create a competitive advantage and maybe to try to set the tone early,” Sizemore said. “Just look to be the team that’s going to take the extra base or put up pressure from stealing and just looking for ways to create more offense.”

And for Hawkins in the bullpen, few pitchers have pitched in more high-leverage situations out of the bullpen or found themselves out of runners in scoring position jams as he has. He doesn’t want his relievers to push away from the analytics and video feedback of today’s game completely. Hawkins wants them to use those things as the right tools in their evaluation toolbox, while also focusing on the mental side of being a reliever in today’s game.

“I can really relate to what they’re going through because there’s probably not too many things on the mound that I haven’t been through, and I think that definitely helps when you’re talking to them, having a conversation, not about what you were thinking, but hey, ‘This is what I saw, how did you feel?’”