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Blue Jays’ hitting coach David Popkins: 'I love damage'

Originally posted on Bluejaysnation | By Ryley Delaney | Last updated Feb 25, 2025 12:00 PM ET

It’s so refreshing to hear a member of the Toronto Blue Jays say they like power.

Leave it to the guy with the last name “Popkins” to be the one who says it. Speaking with the media on Monday morning, David Popkins had some interesting quotes about his hitting philosophy. Here’s a portion of his interview from Sportsnet.

“My philosophy is built off creativity, trying to become the most creative lineup in scoring runs in baseball and we do that by practising all the different situations and clubs in the game”. Popkins said. “My strengths are in relationships, I’ve done some swing rebuilds in the past, planning in-game, and other things like that are my strengths.”

“Overall it’s trying to show guys all the different areas we may need to use a different club. Sometimes it’s grinding an at-bat and walk, sometimes that’s shooting the ball the other way, sometimes that’s hitting the ball out of the yard. There’s a lot of different ways to get that job done and great offenses don’t have one way to get it done, they have every way.”

The most refreshing part though is that the new Blue Jays hitting coach said that he loves damage. In fairness, the entire quote is “I love damage, but out goal is to be complete and that’s always the standard.”. Still, how nice is it to hear that a Blue Jays hitting coach wants home runs?

New #BlueJays hitting coach David Popkins says he wants to be "the most creative lineup at scoring runs in baseball."

He spoke a lot about adapting to certain situations as hitters, knowing when to take a shot and when to look for contact, but made it clear:

"I love damage."

— Keegan Matheson (@KeeganMatheson) February 24, 2025

Ever since I started watching Blue Jays baseball, their identity has largely been about power. At first, it was José Bautista, Edwin Encarnación, and Adam Lind. Then they added Josh Donaldson, Russell Martin, and a few other guys.

In 2021, the year I started writing for Blue Jays Nation, the team hit a league-leading 262 home runs, 21 more than the next team. Two different Blue Jay hitters (Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Marcus Semien) hit more than 40 home runs, while Teoscar Hernández hit 32, and four more players hit 20 or more.

Although their power took a step back in 2022, five players hit 24 or more home runs, while their two catchers (Danny Jansen and Alejandro Kirk) hit 15 and 14 respectively. Their 200 home runs that season were good enough for seventh in the league.

Then came the disastrous Game 2 of the American League Wild Card series, with the organization shifting its focus towards defence. They went from consistently hitting in the top 10 in the home run category to the middle of the pack, hitting just 188 home runs in 2023. In 2024, that dropped to 156 home runs, the fifth-fewest in the league.

Popkins joined the Minnesota Twins as their hitting coach in November 2021 and in 2023, the team’s 233 home runs ranked third-most in the league. The other two seasons ranked in the middle of the pack, but the Twins don’t have a Guerrero Jr. in their lineup.

With the team opening back up to power, hopefully, just hopefully, the Blue Jays can have another season like they did in 2021 and 2022. Hearing a hitting coach say that he likes damage, rather than “damage is kind of a scary word” is a good start.

This article first appeared on Bluejaysnation and was syndicated with permission.

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