TORONTO – The Toronto Blue Jays have hired David Popkins as their new hitting coach, the club announced Monday, handing him the reins of an offence that ranked 23rd in runs this past season.
The 34-year-old comes over after three seasons as hitting coach for the Minnesota Twins, who fired him and assistants Derek Shomon and Rudy Hernandez once the 2024 season ended. He impressed the Blue Jays with his relatability, knowledge on how to create power and when to do so in leverage counts.
Popkins takes over from Guillermo Martinez, whose contract wasn’t renewed after six seasons in the role. Assistant hitting coaches Matt Hague and Hunter Mense are expected to return but the club is working through their roles, while Don Mattingly, who served as offensive co-ordinator last season, is moving back to a more traditional bench coach position.
“David’s ability to game plan and connect with players in different ways is a really exciting addition to our coaching staff,” manager John Schneider said in a statement. “He’s a true expert in all types of hitting information and will help our offensive strategy for each game.”
The change comes after the Blue Jays tried to rework their offence last season following a down 2023, with GM Ross Atkins saying at his end-of-the-season availability that a focus will be “how we navigate that information with so much complexity to it. The problem of helping guys hit and the problem of run-scoring is more and more complex.”
A key need is for more impact, as the Blue Jays ranked 26th in the majors with 156 home runs and 20th in slugging percentage at .389, even as Atkins described power as a “low-hanging fruit to add.”
They did some things well, ranking 13th in on-base percentage at .313 with the sixth-fewest strikeouts at 1,233, but Atkins acknowledged a fundamental problem is that “we just didn’t drive the ball.”
“Made good contact. If we faced good pitching, we had no problem putting the ball in play. We were getting into advantage counts at a fine level,” he continued. “But then doing damage is where we saw guys just take some steps back. That’s something I’ve got to figure out and how we’re supporting them.”
The Blue Jays’ approach evolved throughout the season, with an increased emphasis on hitters getting their best swing off more often and taking chances on certain pitches in certain counts. In May, they created a hitters’ scorecard to try and better reward the elements of a plate appearance they valued.
They indeed need to find ways to extract more from their current position-player group, but they must also meaningfully add to their core this off-season, and Atkins sounded like someone who wouldn’t simply sell out for someone with thump but little else.
“In today’s game, you also have to be cognizant of strikeouts when you do that,” he said. “And I think it’s also something that we have been working very hard to understand is what that means in the playoffs, as well. It’s clear that contact is exceptionally important in the playoffs. That’s proven. So balancing that with power additions is obviously very important. But I don’t think it’s as simple as just plug in a power bat.
“If a power bat is also a very complete hitter, right-handed, left-handed pitching doesn’t matter,” Atkins added. “They’re on base. Their contact rate is high. Doesn’t matter which pitcher, whether it’s velo, spin, carry at the top of the zone versus sink and slide, then sure. One hitter can do that. But there are just so many variables and it’s such a complex equation of scoring runs. As you then take it another step to talking about the complexity of just hitting and offence, there’s more to it than power bats, but we’re certainly open to adding a power bat.”
Melding those thoughts into a cohesive approach for the Blue Jays now falls to Popkins, who spent three seasons in the St. Louis Cardinals system as a player after signing as a non-drafted free agent in 2012, getting up to double-A. He spent another three players independent ball and in 2020, joined the Los Angeles Dodgers as their rookie-ball hitting coach, getting bumped to advanced-A Great Lakes in 2021 before joining the Twins.
Under his watch the Twins tied for the American League lead in home runs in 2023 with 233, a total that dropped to 183, which was 14th in majors, while their 742 runs ranked 10th in the big-leagues.