The Toronto Blue Jays ranked well across numerous offensive statistical categories in 2025, and the hitting coach behind the scenes is getting some well-deserved credit.
Baseball America announced yesterday that Blue Jays staffer David Popkins was the recipient of their 2025 MLB Coach of the Year Award for his efforts with the Jays’ batters and the turnaround in offensive output the team put forward this past season.
Popkins joined the Jays last year after he was let go by the Minnesota Twins during the 2024/2025 offseason, a position he held for over three years. Before coaching with the Twins, he was a hitting coach within the Dodgers system for a couple of seasons and previously played minor league ball in the St. Louis Cardinals organization and some independent ball before retiring in 2017.
Brought the POP 💪
Hitting Coach David Popkins is Baseball America’s 2025 @MLB Coach of the Year! pic.twitter.com/VdmjCpVYaK
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) December 10, 2025
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The California product was a popular figure following his parting with the Twins, with numerous organizations reaching out to the hitting coach before he decided to join the Jays. Under his guise, the Blue Jays ranked:
- First: hits (1461), batting average (.265), OBP (.333)
- Second: strikeouts (1099)
- Third: doubles (294), RBIs (771), OPS (.760)
- Seventh: SLG (.427)
- Eighth: BABIP (.298)
Numerous players also had spectacular seasons with Popkins in the driver’s seat, namely George Springer, who led the team in bWAR (4.8) and bounced back with an impressive .309/.399/.560 slash line with a .959 OPS while leading the team with his 32 home runs. Five players on the active roster featured an OPS above .800, and before he landed on the IL in September, Bo Bichette was on track to lead the league in both hits and doubles.
Popkins’ mentality of increasing the Jays’ bat speed, getting on base with timely hits, passing the bat down the lineup and allowing hitters to ‘do damage’ sparked a turnaround for a Jays squad that struggled to find the barrel to the bat in 2024.
With his efforts and philosophies behind the scenes, the Blue Jays found themselves not only winning the AL East but also advancing to the World Series.
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