The Minnesota Twins finished off their coaching staff during the middle of last week, adding Jeff Pickler as a major league coach and Jeff Smith, who will be the first base coach. Pickler was formerly a member of the Dodgers organization, where he worked with scouting and player development. Perhaps Pickler will be the first of many Dodgers coming to Minnesota (if you know what I mean). Many will seize upon the Dodgers’ move towards analytics, but I think more important is Pickler’s time working with Thad Levine, as well as his background in player development, a noted concern of Derek Falvey.
The Twins also promoted Jeff Smith to be the first base coach. Previously, he was the manager in Fort Myers, and is originally from Naples. I’ve been in southwest Florida the last several days (without internet, thus explaining why I am just posting about this now), and I can assure you, the fact that Smith is now part of the Major League staff is a serious point of pride down that way. I can’t tell you much beyond that, aside from the fact that he will also be coaching coaching and base running, the latter of which there is much work to be done.
I hope you had a very happy holiday, and that work this week isn’t too strenuous!
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
