June 27: The twins officially announced this morning that Johnson will be leaving the organization to accept his new role at LSU. His last day with the twins will be on Thursday.
“Wes Johnson has been an integral part of our organization for the past three and a half seasons and has helped guide pitchers at the highest level,” said Chief of Baseball Operations Derek Falvey in a press release. “His leadership, insight, creativity, and ability to work effectively across a diverse team were hallmarks of his time with the Minnesota Twins. His influence and influence in Minnesota will continue through the shooters and staff he helped mentor. We wish him and his family all the best during his next stop at LSU.”
June 26, 11:03 p.m.: Johnson will receive an annual salary of $750,000 from LSU, Gleeman, and Hayes Report, a significant increase over the roughly $350,000 a year coach earned from the twins. Johnson will actually leave for LSU when the twins series concludes in Cleveland on Thursday.
7:17 PM: Mackie will be promoted and become the Twins’ new show coach, Jaliman and Hayes report (Via Twitter). also from HayesAnd the The conversations between Twins and Johnson revolved around “what can be made [the] More attractive job” to Johnson, and he did not ask for more money from the club. Meanwhile, LSU was “too aggressive” in recruiting Johnson.
6:30 pm: In a surprising mid-season move, coach Wes Johnson leaves the team to return to the college ranks, as D1 Baseball’s Kendall Rogers (Twitter link) reports that Johnson has been appointed as LSU’s new pitching coach. Johnson is in his fourth season with the Twins, but he has previous relationships with the SEC – he worked as a coach at Mississippi State and in Arkansas before joining Minnesota in November 2018.
Johnson had never worked in professional baseball before he was hired by the Twins, although in recent years several teams have hired coaches with more diverse resumes than the usual background as a player, coach, or manager in the MLB or minor league. In this respect, Johnson has been something of a pioneer in this trend, being an early adopter of the Trackman technology even at the college level.
Since the start of the 2019 season, the Minnesota pitchers have ranked 10th in baseball in FWAR (46.8), a solid total even considering the injuries and underperformance that plagued the Twins during their disappointing 2021 campaign. The start of the show was seen as a huge question mark for the twins heading into 2022, but the club faced another set of injuries to post strong, respectable numbers across several categories. Include success stories Chris Archeryear back, and the rookie Joe Ryan The stadium did well in the first full MLB season.
The escalation was the reason the Twins scored ’41-33, rising to number one at AL Central. With this in mind, it makes it all the more weird that Johnson is leaving so suddenly – Dan Hayes from Athletic Reports that the twins only learned yesterday about Johnson’s negotiations with LSU. With Minnesota on the verge of starting an important five-game series against the Guardians, Aaron Jaliman from The Athletic He adds that Johnson is expected to stay with the twins until the series ends.
It is assumed that assistant shooting coach Luis Ramirez or Bullpen coach Pete Mackie are the most likely candidates to enter the role of shooter in Minnesota on at least a temporary basis. Given the sudden nature of Johnson’s departure, the twins may be more than willing to wait until after the season to hire a permanent replacement.
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