Well, well, well, the winds of change are blowing through the baseball world once more! If there’s one thing we know, it’s that when managers start flinging around buzzwords like “exciting addition” and “relentless work ethic,” you can bet your bottom dollar they’re hoping to pull a rabbit out of a hat. That rabbit, in this case, is David Popkins, the new hitting coach for the Toronto club, fresh off a stint with the Twins that sounds like it could use a little more sparkle.
Now, let’s set the scene: Popkins spent three years as the hitting coach for the Twins, who, let’s face it, had a bit of a rollercoaster ride. In 2022, they hit a collective .248, which is like being the tallest dwarf in the room—something to brag about, but let’s not get too carried away. They did finish 78-84, capably doing the backstroke down the murky waters of mediocrity before finding their feet and finishing 2023 with a winning record and a trip to the playoffs. But let’s not forget, it’s all very well hitting well, but if you can’t pitch it or catch it, you’ve basically got a nice set of fireworks that fizzle out after the first big bang.
And what do we see from Popkins’ new team in 2024? A smooth trend toward success! Maybe they mistakenly believed that being a good team in the first half of the season came with an infallibility insurance policy. Oh, how mistaken they were! They went 9-18 in September, which is practically a magnum opus in how NOT to secure a postseason spot. But amidst all the chaos and injuries, their offense still performed fairly reasonably—like a waiter dropping a tray full of dishes, but miraculously, only the forks go flying.
Speaking of forks, have you seen the Toronto offense lately? It’s been slipping faster than a kid on a banana peel! After dazzling with a .264/.329/.431 line in 2022, they somehow decided to ignore the gym and binge-watch TV for the following two years. This year they barely scraped by with a bumbling .241/.313/.389 line, looking less like a powerhouse and more like a PowerPoint presentation that just crashed. If it were any more average, it’d be a cardboard cutout!
And now the leadership has decided to shake things up! Popkins has arrived with high hopes and, quite frankly, a suitcase full of analytics that even the most hardcore sabermetrician would hesitate to check at the gate. John Schneider, the manager, fancies him as the key to digging Toronto out of an offensive rut that seems to be more infectious than the latest TikTok trend. Let’s just hope Popkins has got better magic tricks up his sleeve than just waving a wand and hoping for home runs!
Now look, no one’s denying that baseball is a team sport where players need their coaches to help them grow. But let’s not brush off the fact that the job of a hitting coach should ideally translate into some tangible results. It’s not just about being an “expert in all types of hitting information,” by the way! If simply knowing the difference between a curveball and a fastball guaranteed success, half of the league would already be batting .300 and the other half would be in a removable digital coffin!
Ultimately, it’s going to be fascinating to see how this all plays out in Toronto. If nothing else, Popkins’ presence on the coaching staff should provide us all with a few thrilling moments—and not just because we’re waiting for the next offensive meltdown. So keep your popcorn at the ready, folks! In the unpredictable circus that is Major League Baseball, one thing is for certain: anything could happen! And as we know, a coach’s impact can be as unpredictable as an Alaskan cruise in winter.