(Read my update to this post here.)
A Gardenhire will be managing for the Minnesota Twins again next year.
Multiple reports say Toby Gardenhire will manage the Cedar Rapids Kernels in 2018. He is the son of Detroit Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire, a former longtime manager of the Twins, the parent club of the Kernels. (The elder Gardenhire also managed in the Midwest League, taking the 1988 Kenosha Twins to the Midwest League Championship Series, which they lost to … Cedar Rapids.)
It will be Toby Gardenhire’s second season as a coach in the Twins organization, after he served as the third-base coach (along with other duties) for the Triple-A Rochester Red Wings in 2017. He was the head coach at the University of Wisconsin-Stout from 2012 to 2016 after retiring as a player.
The former infielder played seven seasons in the Twins farm system, including 2006 in the Midwest League. He batted .198 with 18 RBI in 87 games with the Beloit Snappers.
Tommy Watkins, who managed the Kernels in 2017 and served as the team’s hitting coach from 2013 to 2015, will manage the Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts next year. He was Chattanooga’s hitting coach in 2016.
The other two members of the 2017 Kernels coaching staff — hitting coach Brian Dinkelman and pitching coach J.P. Martinez — will again serve in those capacities for the team in 2018.
Dinkelman and Martinez also are Midwest League alumni. Dinkelman batted .283 with 7 HR and 21 RBI in 67 games with the 2007 Snappers. Martinez went 5-2 with a 1.83 ERA, 20 saves, 92 strikeouts and 31 walks in 88.1 innings (53 appearances) for the 2005 Snappers.
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We now know four of next season’s Midwest League managers. Click on the team names below to read about the other assignments.
The Midwest League Traveler 