The New York Yankees announced that James Rowson has been named the club’s hitting coach.
Rowson, 47, re-joins the Yankees organization with 22 years of professional coaching experience. The 2024 season will mark his 10th season on a Major League coaching staff.
Rowson spent last season as the Detroit Tigers’ assistant hitting coach after serving as the bench coach for the Miami Marlins from 2020-22. Prior to his stint in Miami, he was the hitting coach for the Minnesota Twins from 2017-19. During his three-year tenure in Minnesota, the Twins ranked fourth in the Majors in runs scored (2,492), fifth in batting average (.260) and slugging percentage (.445), sixth in OPS (.775), and seventh in home runs (679). In 2019, the Twins set a Major League record with 307 home runs while establishing club records for runs scored (939), extra-base hits (648), slugging percentage (.494) and OPS (.832). That same year, the Twins also ranked second in the Majors in runs scored, hits (1,547), batting average (.270), slugging percentage and OPS.
The Mount Vernon, N.Y., native spent nine years in the Yankees organization from 2006-11 and 2014-16, serving as the Minor League hitting coordinator in seven of those seasons (2008-11, ’14-16). He was also the hitting coach for Single-A Tampa from 2006-07.
In between his stints with the Yankees, Rowson spent two seasons with the Chicago Cubs organization (2012-13), originally serving as their Minor League hitting coordinator before being named the Cubs’ Major League hitting coach in June 2012.
Rowson began his coaching career with the Los Angeles Angels organization, spending four years as a Minor League hitting coach with Single-A Rancho Cucamonga (2004-05), Single-A Cedar Rapids (2003) and Rookie-Level Provo (2002).
He was originally selected by the Seattle Mariners in the ninth round of the 1994 First-Year Player Draft out of Mount St. Michael High School in the Bronx. The former outfielder played three Minor League seasons with the Mariners (1995-96) and Yankees (1997) before playing in the Independent Heartland League in 1998.