James Frank Rowson (born September 12, 1976) is an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

coach. He is the hitting coach for the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB). He was previously a coach in MLB for the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Division. Th ...

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team is named afte ...

Miami Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League East, East Division. The ...

, and

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...

Playing career

Rowson is from

Mount Vernon, New York Mount Vernon is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is an inner suburb of New York City, immediately to the north of the Borough (New York City), borough of the Bronx. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Moun ...

. He attended Mount Saint Michael Academy in

the Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

, a borough of New York City. The

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. The team joined the American ...

selected Rowson in the ninth round of the 1994 MLB draft. He played

minor league baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

in the Mariners' and the

' minor league systems from 1995 to 1997, and played for the Cook County Cheetahs in the

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

Heartland League in 1998.

Post-playing career

Rowson served as the Yankees' minor league hitting coordinator for six seasons, joining the

as their minor league hitting coordinator for the 2012 season. He took over as the hitting coach of the Cubs in June 2012, after Rudy Jaramillo was fired. After the 2013 season, Rowson rejoined the Yankees as their minor league hitting coordinator. The

hired Rowson as their hitting coach before the 2017 season. In the offseason following the 2019 season, Rowson left the Twins to become the Marlins' bench coach. On November 15, 2022, the

hired Rowson as an assistant hitting coach. After the 2023 season, the Yankees hired Rowson as their hitting coach.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rowson, James 1976 births Living people African-American baseball coaches African-American baseball players Arizona League Mariners players Baseball coaches from New York (state) Baseball players from Westchester County, New York Chicago Cubs coaches Cook County Cheetahs players Detroit Tigers coaches Everett AquaSox players Greensboro Bats players Major League Baseball bench coaches Major League Baseball hitting coaches Miami Marlins coaches Minnesota Twins coaches Minor league baseball coaches New York Yankees coaches Oneonta Yankees players Sportspeople from Mount Vernon, New York Tampa Yankees players 21st-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen