Twins Announce Player Development Assignments for 2022

All four full-season affiliates will have their 2021 manager return to lead them again in 2022. The St. Paul Saints will be led again by Toby Gardenhire. Ramon Borrego will be managing the Wichita Wind Surge. Brian Dinkelman returns to the Cedar Rapids Kernels, and Brian Meyer will be again managing the Ft. Myers Mighty Mussels. 

Player Development Staff and Minor League Coordinators
Alex Hassan returns for his third season as Director of Player Development. His assistant directors will be Drew MacPhail and Tommy Bergjans. Brian  Maloney starts his sixth year as the senior manager of minor league operations. 

Kevin Morgan was on the Twins big league coaching staff much of last season as an additional coach following the loss of Mike Bell. He is returning to the role he was hired by the Twins in 2020 to hold, Minor League Field Coordinator. Edgar Varela had been the Twins hitting coach the previous two seasons. He returns to his roots as the Coordinator of Instruction. 

Justin Willard will return for his second season as the Twins Pitching Coordinator. Zach Bove will be the assistant pitching coordinator. Nat Ballenberg will also be a pitching coordinator for "special projects." 

Bryce Berg joined the Twins organization a year ago and was the Cedar Rapids hitting coach. This year, he will be the organization's Minor League Hitting Coordinator. Tucker Frawley will take over as Infield and Catching Coordinator. They are new to those specific positions. A year ago, Donegal Fergus (hitting coordinator), Billy Boyer (infield and base running coordinator) and Michael Thomas (catching coordinator) were let go during spring training.  Mike Quade returns for his fifth season as the Outfield Coordinator. 

St. Paul Saints
Toby Gardenhire (39) returns for his second season at the Saints' helm. He was to be the Rochester Red Wings manager in the 2020 season that didn't happen. Before that, he was a manager in Cedar Rapids and Ft. Myers. 

Matt Borgschulte was the Saints Hitting Coach in 2021, but he is now one of the MLB hitting coaches for the Baltimore Orioles. Ryan Smith takes over the hitting coach duties in St. Paul. He had been with Wichita a year ago and Cedar Rapids the previous two seasons. He coached in the Arizona Fall League in 2021 as well. 

Cibney Bello returns to the Saints as one of their pitching coaches. It is his seventh season in the organization and second with the Saints. He will be joined by former big-leaguer Virgil Vasquez (Pirates, Tigers). He is in his eighth season as a coach in the Twins organization. Last year, he was in Wichita. Mike McCarthy was one of the team's pitching coaches in 2021, but he has joined the San Diego Padres organization in the same role. 

Tyler Smarslok will return as the Saints' defensive coach. He also coached first base most of the season. 

Wichita Wind Surge 
Ramon Borrego returns to the Wind Surge after they won the division title in 2021. He is in his 12th season as a manager in the organization.  

“We are thrilled to have Ramon back in Wichita and look forward to the season,” said Jordan Kobritz, Wind Surge CEO.  “Ramon and his staff did a fantastic job developing players last season, with two Wind Surge players promoted to the Majors and several others to Triple A.”

Derek Shomon was named the team's hitting coach, the role he performed in 2021 for Ft. Myers. Joe Mangiameli returns as the team's catching coach. 

Wichita will have two new pitching coaches in 2022. Peter Larson jumps up from Low-A Ft. Myers this year. He is in his fourth year in the organization. Dan Urbina is also in his fourth season with the Twins. He was a pitching coach in the FCL a year ago. 

Luis Ramirez had been one of the team's pitching coaches in 2021. He has joined the Twins big-league staff. 

Cedar Rapids Kernels
Former Twins infielder Brian Dinkelman returns for his third season as Kernels manager. Before that, hew as the team's hitting coach. 

Dinkelman said, “I’m looking forward to another exciting season of baseball in Cedar Rapids. I’m excited to be back as manager of the Kernels and the opportunity to play in front of the home crowd.  It should be another great season at the ballpark.”

Jairo Rodriguez returns for his second season as a coach for the Kernels. It is his 15th season in the Twins organization. He played from 2007 through 2016 before joining the organization's coaching ranks. In fact, he played for the 2013 Cedar Rapids Kernels, the first year as a Twins affiliate. Shawn Schlechter moves up from the FCL as a hitting coach. 

Mark Moriarity and Richard Salazar will both return to the Kernels as their co-pitching coaches in 2022. 

Kernels General Manager, Scott Wilson, “I am very excited to have nearly the entire coaching staff back from last year. These are the coaches that took us to game 5 of the playoffs, after a year off.  They are very competitive, and great with our fans. We are lucky to have this quality staff, with a couple new names, back for another year. Bring on April 8th!” 

Ft. Myers Mighty Mussels
Brian Meyer was set to be the hitting coach a year ago for the Mussels, but when Aaron Sutton retired from the coaching world before spring training, Meyer was named manager. 

Takashi Miyoshi, who managed the FCL Twins a year ago and has worked in Elizabethton and other roles in the organization, will be the bench coach. 

Rayden Sierra, hired in April of 2021, will be the hitting coach again in 2022. 

Former big-leaguer Carlos Hernandez will return for his fifth season in the organization, third straight year as a pitching coach for Ft. Myers. He pitched for the Astros from 2001-2004. Jared Gaynor in the other pitching coach. He is in his fourth season in the organization. 

“We have a development-driven staff with a lot of diversity in our backgrounds and within the game, which will help us all continue to grow,” Meyer said. “With Ray Sierra and Carlos Hernandez returning, we have experience in navigating through the demands of the league, which in turn we can help the players adjust to.”

Florida Complex League
Seth Feldman will be the first-year manager for the FCL Twins after managing in the Dominican Summer League (DSL) the past two years). 

He will have four hitting coaches. Former Twins minor leaguer Yeison Perez returns while Andrew DiTullio, Emilio Guerrero and Luis Reyes are the others. 

Former big leaguer Calvin Maduro and Bobby Hearn return to the FCL pitching coach role. They are joined by Erick Julio as a third pitching coach. 

In addition, Brad McKenney will be the team's analytics coach. Anders Dzurak will be the rehab pitching coach. 

Dominican Summer League
Rafael Martinez will be the manager for the DSL Twins. It is his first year in the organization.

Ricardo Nanita returns for his second season as a hitting coach. Ruben Santana, a middle infielder in the Twins organization from 2015-2021 will also be a hitting coach. Jimmy Alvarez will be an infield coach for the team. He has coached in the DSL going all the way back to 2009. 

DJ Engle will be a pitching coach for the second straight season. Kevin Rodriguez returns for his fourth season as a pitching coach.