James

Rowson

Hayes adds that Shelton and Rowson, who has served as the Yankees hitting coach for the past two seasons, are the leading candidates with Flaherty and Servais still in the mix. Shelton and Servais are the most experienced finalists following recent multi-year runs with the Pirates and Mariners, respectively. Flaherty, who has spent the last two seasons as the Cubs bench coach, has been a serious managerial candidate on several occasions in recent years. It’s possible they’ll go completely off the grid with a non-traditional choice, like the Giants most recently with collegiate head coach Tony Vitello, but it sounds like they’ve narrowed their search to four finalists to replace Rocco Baldelli.

Joyce adds that former Pirates skipper Derek Shelton and Red Sox bench coach Ramón Vazquez are two additional names that surfaced as potential candidates to replace Rocco Baldelli, who was fired at the end of the regular season following an ugly 70-92 campaign. Rowson has spent the last two seasons as New York’s hitting coach with the Yankees leading the majors this past season in runs scored (849), home runs (274) and OPS (.787).

Rowson is returning to the Yankees’ organization, having worked for them in the minors from 2006-11 and 2014-16. He also spent a year (1997) in their system during his brief career as a player. He last worked for the Tigers as an assistant hitting coach and, before that, for the Marlins as a bench coach alongside Don Mattingly from 2020-22.