Everything Has Come Full Circle For Toby Gardenhire In Fort Myers

Fort Myers – It’s been a common sight in Spring Training this year to see the Minnesota Twins’ new Major League Field Coordinator, Toby Gardenhire, running around from field to field, ensuring all the players are where they need to be at any given time.

New manager Derek Shelton has put Gardenhire in charge of day-to-day operations in camp. It’s the same role Shelton held in 2019 as Rocco Baldelli’s bench coach.

Between all the running around, fielding throws at first base during infield drills, and catching up with Twins legends, Gardenhire is still finding time for the ‘pinch me’ moments as he has finally reached the majors after a 21-year journey to get there.

“It’s one of those things where, as a kid, you’re always dreaming of going to the Big Leagues as a player,” he said. “I played for a very long time, but I didn’t get a chance to go to the Big Leagues. But then I started coaching and as a coach I had very similar goals that I would like to get a chance to coach in the Big Leagues. To be able to do it here in Minnesota, where my dad did all this stuff, is pretty amazing. It’s a pretty surreal situation.”

The Gardenhire name has become inseparable from Twins baseball. Toby’s dad, Ron, coached in the organization from 1987 to 2001, then served as Minnesota’s manager from 2002 to 2014. Toby Gardenhire has spent the last five seasons managing the Twins’ Triple-A affiliate in St. Paul, and worked his way up the system after being hired as a Rookie Ball coach in 2016.

Gardenhire and Shelton had met briefly during Shelton’s previous stint with the team when Shelton visited the minor-league affiliates. It became pretty clear that they saw the game similarly all those years ago, and that Gardenhire was familiar with most of the players on the 40-man roster. Adding him to the staff was a no-brainer.

“This wasn't just 'Hey, we're promoting you to the staff,’” Shelton said in November. “I had known him from when I was here previously. But when we talked to him and interviewed him, his thoughts on what we should do, how we should go about it, what he thought was going well, and what needed improvement, was extremely well articulated. He was extremely impressive.

“I remember talking to him about the game, and he sees things through a very similar lens that I see things through,” he added. “And I knew that right away about him. So when he got the job over in Pittsburgh, I was rooting for him, and I’m happy to have him back here, and I feel very lucky to have Shelty as my first manager.”

No player understands how much of an asset Toby Gardenhire will be to the major-league coaching staff better than former Twins pitcher Randy Dobnak. Dobnak signed a minor league deal with the Seattle Mariners early in the off-season, and a few days later, Dobnak and his wife, Ariel, were having a casual afternoon at home when they found out about Gardenhire’s promotion.

“I think me and my wife were just sitting in the living room with our daughter, and she saw it on Instagram, or something like that,” Dobnak recalled in a phone interview. “And she was like ‘Oh wow!’ and I was like, ‘What?’ And she said ‘Toby’s in the big leagues’, and I said, ‘Damn, it’s about time.’”

Between their time together in Cedar Rapids in 2018 and the last five seasons in St. Paul, they’ve won and lost over 300 games together. Through all those highs and lows, Dobnak has seen how Gardenhire has brought out the best in his players.

“Sometimes you have the managers who are kind of just connecting to the players, but with Toby, it’s almost like he puts himself in the players' shoes,” said Dobnak. “Obviously, he played back in the day, so something like that, to have that kind of relationship where you can appreciate feeling safe talking to them about anything. Whether it’s baseball-related, off-the-field stuff, or just stuff in general.”

“He’s managed, he’s coached in our organization,” Shelton said. “I felt that was really important, when you bring in a new manager, to bring someone within the organization up. To keep that continuity. We have a bunch of young players, and I think that highlights the ability that Toby’s had to develop relationships.”

Toby Gardenhire has managed 28 of the players currently on the 40-man roster and 12 of the 26 non-roster invitees the Twins have in camp this spring. Ensuring all 66 players are where they need to be never leaves the first-year MLB coach this spring with a moment of downtime. Still, working for a manager who’s held the same role before has made Gardenhire’s job a bit easier.

“It’s a big challenge, but I’m lucky. I’ve been around a lot of people who have done it before, and Shelty’s done it,” said Gardenhire. “A couple of coaches on the team have done a lot of this stuff, too. So it’s nice to have a lot of people around that I can bounce this stuff off of.”

As the games pick up in spring training, Gardenhire’s daily routine will change. He must ensure the right players are on the bus for split-squad games and other gameday tasks. Still, there will be time for those pinch-me moments to hit Gardenhire, whether or not he anticipates them.

He played in the Twins farm system for seven seasons and retired after finishing 2011 in Triple-A Rochester. He still had a chance to play in the World Baseball Classic for Team Germany in 2013, and coached a couple of seasons with UW-Stevens Point before the Twins brought him back into the organization as a coach.

While he’s not coaching third base like his dad did when he first joined Tom Kelly’s coaching staff in 1991, all those years of growing up in the Metrodome and spring training facilities in Fort Myers have come full circle for him. He’s seen every Twins great from Kirby Puckett, to Torii Hunter, to Joe Mauer, to Byron Buxton pass through these facilities. He’ll be the man to ensure the next wave of Twins greats start their day where they need to be each day in camp.

“I still kind of pinch myself every day, wondering how I ended up in this role coaching in the Big Leagues and the same team my dad managed for so long,” Toby Gardenhire said. “It’s a pretty cool situation. It’s a pinch-me moment. I think I’m going to run through a whole gamut of them this year. But yeah, Opening Day in Baltimore and then when we get back home in Minnesota, it’s going to be pretty special.”