Four years ago, Toronto Blue Jays hitting coach David Popkins received a call from Los Angeles Dodgers vice president of player development Will Rhymes, his boss at the time, with good news: The organization wanted to promote him to a minor league hitting coordinator role. It was an encouraging step forward after one season as hitting coach for the High-A Great Lakes Loons. And it never happened because the Minnesota Twins called him the next day asking to interview him for their hitting coach vacancy with the big league club -- three rungs above the Midwest League. He was 31 years old at the time. He got the job.

"I was pretty shocked," Popkins said.

Popkins, hired in November 2021, oversaw Twins hitters for three years, helping guide an offense that ranked 11th in wRC+ and 13th i

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