Jon Heyman (careful! Facebook!), Chris Kirschner, and Fansided’s Robert Murray have reported that the Giants are expected to hire Yankees hitting coach James Rowson to join their hitting group. The wrinkle is that it will be for the role of “offensive coordinator.” What is an offensive coordinator in MLB terms?
There are about five of these positions in the sport right now, and the general job description is to scheme a baseball offense: hitting, baserunning, and situations. This is the job that Donnie
Ecker held when he left the Giants for the Rangers. Grady Sizemore assumed this role for the White Sox in 2025. Hunter Mense, who left the Giants to live closer to his family, is joining a Kansas City staff where Connor Dawson is the offensive coordinator.
So, it’s a catch-all offensive coaching position for the major league team. You can figure there’s a degree of instruction involved, too, and that fits Rowson’s skill set. Before serving as the Yankees’ hitting coach from 2024-2026, he was their minor league hitting coordinator for six total seasons, with stints as an MLB hitting coach for the Cubs (2012-2013), Twins (2017-2019), and Detroit (2023). From 2020-2022, he was the Marlins’ bench coach.
Hal Steinbrenner was pretty critical of the Yankees’ hitting group this past season, when — notably — Aaron Judge was unavailable for a good chunk of it. In their end of the year presser, he and Aaron Boone spotlighted this:
Steinbrenner said he would look at the coaching staff, and that he’s “definitely focused on the offense and hitting,” noting, “It was certainly a significant part of why we didn’t achieve what we wanted to.” Asked about hitting coach James Rowson, Boone said he has “been really impressed with the culture that he’s created.”
Steinbrenner said he would look at the coaching staff, and that he’s “definitely focused on the offense and hitting,” noting, “It was certainly a significant part of why we didn’t achieve what we wanted to.” Asked about hitting coach James Rowson, Boone said he has “been really impressed with the culture that he’s created.”
This new position seems to parallel what’s going on with the pitching group, where Buster Posey and Zack Minasian have mentioned that a lack of coordination and clean lines of communication probably worked against pitcher development at the MLB level. I don’t think it’s as valuable going through what happened to teams when Rowson was a hitting coach, because I think those results are, largely, personnel-based. Ben Rice had a great, breakout season for the Yankees, but that’s diminished by the negatives elsewhere on the roster. It wasn’t Rowson’s decision to re-sign Trent Grisham or count on Ryan McMahon or Giancarlo Stanton to provide offense.
Anyway, the Giants ranked 23rd in wRC+ (97), 26th in runs scored (669), 29th in on base percentage (.306), 15th in batting average (.245), 16th in Isolated Power (.155), 18th in slug (.400), 18th in strikeout rate (22.1%), 27th in baserunning (-5.6 Baserunning Runs Above Average), and 30th in walk rate (7.4%). There’s nowhere to go but up.
James Rowson has a lot of work ahead of him. It’s entirely possible that outgoing senior Yankees advisor Brian Sabean put in a good word for him with his former team knowing that he was the man for the job.
