The Minnesota Twins have announced minor league managerial and coaching assignments for the 2026 season.
Triple-A St. Paul Saints
Brian Dinkelman takes over the helm of Triple-A St. Paul, after managing Double-A Wichita to a 76-62 (.551) record and a second-place finish in the Texas League North Division in 2025. This season marks Dinkelman’s sixth as a manager in the Twins minor league system; he enters with a career 443-348 (.560) regular season record. Carlos Hernandez and Ryan Ricci are St. Paul’s pitching coaches; Venezuela-born Hernandez enters his ninth year with the Twins and second straight with St. Paul, and Ricci enters his third season in the organization, after working with Low-A Fort Myers in 2024 and Double-A Wichita in 2025. Burnsville, Minnesota native Shawn Schlechter is the Saints’ hitting coach for the third-straight year, his seventh overall in the Twins organization. CJ Baker is the Saints’ hitting and development coach, his third season in the Twins system after spending the last two years with High-A Cedar Rapids. Chase Thompson (lead) and Ben Myers (assistant) are the Saints’ athletic trainers, and Stephen Hopkins returns as the team’s strength and conditioning coach. Matt Tramp serves as the Saints’ clubhouse manager. Alek Hughes is the club’s coordinator of baseball technology, assisted by Baseball Technology Fellow Jared Kahn.
Double-A Wichita Wind Surge
Nico Giarratano will manage Double-A Wichita and be the team’s infield coach in 2026, his fourth season in the Twins organization and second as a minor league manager. Giarratano led the Florida Complex League Twins to a 39-20 (.661) finish in 2025, a second-half division title and a trip to the FCL Championship Series. Former major leaguer Stephen Ridings joins Wichita as one of its pitching coaches, his first professional coaching post; Ridings retired in May 2025 and pitched in five games for New York-AL in 2021, posting a 1.80 ERA (5.0 IP, 1 ER). Jesus Sanchez is Wichita’s other pitching coach, his fourth season with the Twins and second straight with the Wind Surge. Andrew Cresci and Julian Gonzalez (hitting and development) will serve as Wichita’s hitting coaches; Cresci is in his second season with Wichita and Gonzalez was High-A Cedar Rapids’ hitting and development coach last season. Taylor Carpenter is the Wind Surge’s lead athletic trainer, assisted by Asja Morello, and Meagan Vota returns as Wichita’s strength and conditioning coach. Chase Carder returns as the Wind Surge’s coordinator, baseball technology for the fourth season.
High-A Cedar Rapids Kernels
Brian Meyer leads High-A Cedar Rapids for the second-straight season, after guiding the club to a 72-60 (.545) record, Midwest League West first-half division title and a berth in the Midwest League Championship in 2025. He owns a career 334-296 (.530) regular season record in five seasons as a minor league manager, all in the Twins organization. Erick Julio and Hunter Townsend are the Kernels’ two pitching coaches; Julio is in his fifth season with the Twins organization and first at the High-A level, while Townsend returns for a second-straight season as one of the Kernels’ pitching coaches. Danny Marcuzzo joins Cedar Rapids as hitting coach, after serving as Triple-A St. Paul’s hitting and development coach in 2025. Yeison Pérez is the Kernels’ hitting and development coach, his ninth season in the Twins’ organization and second with Cedar Rapids (previously, 2023). Katie Lortie is the lead athletic trainer, assisted by Morgan Leichtenberger, and joined by strength and conditioning coach Morgan Buckley.
Low-A Fort Myers Mighty Mussels
Jordan Smith joins the Twins organization as manager of Low-A Fort Myers after spending the prior five minor league seasons as a coach or manager in the Cleveland Guardians’ system. The Willmar, Minnesota native and St. Cloud State University product most recently served as manager of Low-A Lynchburg, leading the Hillcats to the 2025 Carolina League Championship after posting a 70-59 (.543) regular-season record. The Mighty Mussels’ pitching coaches are Dylan Hawley and Richard Salazar; Hawley spent the past two seasons as a pitching coach with the Dominican Summer League Twins and enters his third year with the Twins, while Salazar enters his fourth season as pitching coach with Fort Myers and ninth year overall with the Twins. Carlos Lara is Fort Myers’ hitting coach, after spending the prior two seasons in the same role with the DSL Twins. Charysse Berkowski is the club’s lead athletic trainer, assisted by Tyler Blair, and Matt Anti is back for another season as the Mighty Mussels’ strength and conditioning coach. The team’s coordinator, baseball technology is Jeremy Miranda, who was in the same role with the Mighty Mussels last season
Rookie-level Florida Complex League Twins/Lee County Sports Complex
Tristan Toorie leads the Florida Complex League Twins after spending three seasons as a development coach with the team. The FCL team and complex staff comprises three pitching coaches: Matthew Hartshorn, Ryan Meisinger and Dan Urbina, and the rehab pitching coach is Carter Kessinger. Hartshorn joins the Twins organization from Rockland Peak Performance, a baseball training facility in New Jersey; Meisinger joins the Twins for his first pro coaching assignment after ending his playing career in 2025; and Urbina enters his eighth season in the organization and second straight in the same role. This marks Kessinger’s second pro coaching season, both in the same role.
Rookie-level Florida Complex League Twins/Lee County Sports Complex
Steven Cardona and Emilio Guerrero are the FCL Twins/complex hitting coaches, alongside development coach Jairo Rodriguez. Guerrero and Rodriguez were in the same roles last year, while Cardona spent the past two seasons as hitting coach with the Dominican Summer League Twins.
Stevie Blackburn-Lazalde (lead) and Michela Celi (assistant) will serve as the complex’s athletic trainers, working alongside strength and conditioning coaches Serena Dahring and Megan Segree. Georgia Cook, Danny DiGregorio and Danielle Honnette will return as the physical therapists for the FCL team and the complex. Matt Cheesman is the minor league equipment manager and Jimmy Couto is the assistant minor league clubhouse manager.
Rookie-level Dominican Summer League Twins
Rafael Martinez takes the helm of the Dominican Summer League Twins for the fifth consecutive season. Gabriel Garcia and Alex Wright will split duties as pitching coaches for the DSL Twins; Garcia joins the Twins for his first season in the organization, while Wright returns for his second season in the same role. The DSL Twins’ hitting coaches are a pair of organizational newcomers, Ozney Guillen and Zach Simmons. Guillen, who is the son of former Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, has held various roles with teams in Venezuela and Colombia over the past few years; Simmons joins the Twins from Driveline Baseball. Ruben Santana also returns to the team’s staff as a coach. Bayley Hess is the team’s head athletic trainer, assisted by Carlos Frias and Wladimir Morales. Miguel Cabrera is the strength and conditioning coach, and the Latin American strength and conditioning coordinator is Juan Carlos Pinto. Francisco Solano is the manager, Dominican academy operations, Carlos Naut serves as the coordinator, Dominican academy operations and Julissa Marte is the assistant, academy administrator. Christian Balbuena is the Dominican academy’s maintenance assistant and Raymond Perez is the academy’s driver. Wilkin Mora is the maintenance lead, Jose Carrion is the clubhouse manager and Kelvin Pantaleon is the clubhouse assistant. Pierre Jacotin will serve as specialist, language and continuing education. Jose Miguel is the coordinator, baseball technology for the academy, assisted by intern, baseball technology Alvin Vallejo.
Player Development Staff and Minor League Coordinators
Jeremy Zoll enters his second season as executive vice president/general manager and ninth overall with the Twins. Alex Hassan enters his ninth season in the Twins organization and second as assistant general manager. Drew MacPhail is the Twins’ director, player development and Brian Maloney is the director, minor league and high performance operations. Tommy Bergjans is the director, minor league pitching development; Amanda Daley is the director of player education; Frankie Padulo serves as the club’s assistant director, player development; and Chad Raines is the coordinator, player development. Jason Davila is the senior manager, minor league operations and Lisa Maria Tolentino is the coordinator, minor league operations.
Victor Gonzalez is the assistant director, Florida and Dominican Republic operations; Cole Satterfield is the assistant manager, Florida operations; and Alejandro Martinez will be the Florida operations fellow for the 2025 season.
Kevin Morgan returns as minor league field coordinator, his seventh season in the Twins organization. Seth Feldman is now the complex coordinator, his first season in this new role and eighth year with the Twins. Nat Ballenberg returns as pitching coordinator. Jonas Lovin will be the assistant pitching coordinator, after three seasons as a pitching coach in the Twins system, and Argenis Angulo will be the complex pitching coordinator, his fourth season in the organization and first in this role. Bryce Berg has been promoted to director, minor league hitting development, his seventh year overall in the organization and first in this new role. Ryan Smith returns as assistant hitting coordinator, his fourth year in the role and eighth with Minnesota. Tucker Frawley returns for a second season as catching coordinator and Ehire Adrianza returns as assistant, player development.
Bryan Housand is in his fifth season with the Twins and third as director, minor league medical services; his team includes minor league medical administration coordinator Chad Jackson and Latin American medical coordinator Axel Lopez, in their 25th and 13th seasons with the Twins, respectively. Ian Kadish is the senior director, player performance; David Rak has been promoted to assistant director, strength and conditioning; Evan McDonald is the coordinator, minor league strength and conditioning; and John Gentile is the coordinator, Florida complex strength and conditioning. Lindsey Sutter is the performance dietician and Isabella Burrola is the Latin American performance nutrition coordinator.
Tyler Schmitz will serve as the manager, baseball technology. Kevin Marable is the coordinator, baseball technology – amateur scouting, with Katie Manecke, Armita Modaressi and Kara Owens serving as the fellows, baseball technology this season. Josh Ruffin is the director, applied analytics, Chris Bailey is the senior analyst, performance science, and Adam Burke joins the Twins as analyst, performance science. JJ Lamb is the applied biomechanist, and Leah Klein is the junior biomechanist. Ellie Sepúlveda is the analyst, sports science working with junior analyst, baseball research John Hepp.
(info courtesy of Twins)
