Blue Jays make Twins pay for this under-the-radar offseason move

The Toronto Blue Jays major headline transactions this past winter included adding players Myles Straw, Nick Sandlin, Andrés Giménez Anthony Santander and Jeff Hoffman.

However, there was one under-the-radar move that they made this past winter that has certainly paid huge dividends for the Blue Jays in 2025 at the expense of the Minnesota Twins. That transaction turned out to be the addition of hitting coach David Popkins to the Jays’ coaching staff.

Blue Jays make Twins pay for this under-the-radar offseason move

Back then, Popkins was fully expecting the Twins to offer him an extension after the great work he has done for the Minnesota organization in recent year, as per Dan Hayes of The Athletic. However, when the Twins surprisingly dismissed him following their collapse to make the playoffs, that was when the Blue Jays were among the teams to jump in to fight for his services.

Toronto would end up winning the Popkins’ sweepstakes and he has been a huge boost to the entire organization to date. For an offense that had struggled mightily to produce in recent years, thanks to his fine work, the Blue Jays currently lead the entire league in hitting with 1240 hits as a team, along with a .267 batting average and rank third in OPS at .765. With Popkins giving the Jays players the right mindset in their plate approach and not swinging for the fences each time, they also happen to lead the league with the fewest strikeouts with just 917. 

Just for comparison’s sake, the Twins currently rank in the bottom third of the league in hits, runs scored, batting average and on-base percentage. Coincidentally, they appear to be out of playoff contention already with a month to go in the season. So to say that Minnesota is missing the guidance of Popkins is certainly a huge understatement.

On top of that, Popkins has helped revived the offensive forms of players such as Alejandro Kirk, Davis Schneider and even George Springer this year, following their down seasons in 2024. Addison Barger has also broken out this season after struggling with consistency previously with the team. In addition, even the role players such as Straw, Nathan Lukes, Tyler Heineman have put together solid campaigns with Toronto in 2025 as a result.

So the recruitment of big name players such as Santander, Hoffman, Giménez and others may seem great, but none has provided the widespread impact that Popkins has brought to the team. In doing so, he has managed to help produce sustainable winning and success with this current Blue Jays club, who will now likely be looking towards more lofty goals than just making the playoffs this season.