News: Tigers assistant hitting coach James Rowson poached by Yankees

The Detroit Tigers will have to look for a new assistant hitting coach after James Rowson was poached by the New York Yankees to be their next hitting coach, per a press release.

Rowson was hired along with fellow assistant hitting coach Keith Beauregard and hitting coach Michael Brdar last year to run the Tigers hitting staff following the dismissal of Scott Coolbaugh.

Rowson was previously the hitting coach for the Twins from 2017-19. He oversaw the 2019 team that set a new MLB record for home runs in a season, though we know that was highly skewed by the juiced ball.

He was the bench coach for the Marlins from 2020-22 before joining the Tigers last offseason. It has been rumored for about a week now that the Yankees were targeting Rowson for their hitting coach opening, and now those rumors have come to fruition.

The Yankees offense really struggled last season. They fired hitting coach Dillon Brooks midseason and brought in former Tiger Sean Casey for the remainder of the season, and that didn't work very well.

Rowson, 47, in a New York native who has spent time in the Yankees' organizaion before. He was their minor league hitting instructor for six years before leaving for the same position with the Cubs, only to come back about a year later. Now, he gets a major role on the big league team.

So we turn our attention back to the Tigers. How will they fill the hole left by Rowson? It's not like Brdar was poached, so it won't take a major search to find another assistant hitting coach.

Still, A.J. Hinch and Scott Harris will likely try to find someone that might be overlooked in coaching circles. They'll probably look for someone a bit younger with an out-of-the-box philosophy. It'll be interesting to see how that search shakes out.