Molitor served as a coach on Gardenhire's staff in 2014, overseeing baserunning, bunting, infield instruction and positioning, as well as in-game strategy. Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
The Minnesota Twins hired Paul Molitor as the 13th manager in club history on Monday after the Hall of Famer agreed to a three-year contract that covers the 2015-17 seasons.
Molitor, 58, will be introduced at a news conference Tuesday. He replaces Ron Gardenhire, who was fired five weeks ago after 13 seasons. The Twins are coming off four straight seasons of 92 or more losses.
Molitor served as a coach on Gardenhire’s staff in 2014, overseeing baserunning, bunting, infield instruction and positioning, as well as in-game strategy.
Prior to 2014, he served as the Twins minor league baserunning/infield coordinator for 10 seasons (2003, 2005-13). He was the Seattle Mariners hitting coach in 2004 and Twins bench coach from 2000-01, giving him 14 years of major league and minor league coaching experience.
The first ballot Hall of Fame infielder was inducted in 2004 after 21 seasons in the majors. He played 2,683 career games for the Milwaukee Brewers, Toronto Blue Jays and Twins, amassing 3,319 hits, 605 doubles, 114 triples, 234 home runs, 1,307 RBI, 1,782 runs scored, 1,094 walks and 504 stolen bases, while posting a .306 batting average.
On the all-time list, he ranks ninth in hits, 11th in doubles, 19th in runs scored and 31st in games played. He is one of six players in baseball history to record over 3,000 hits and steal over 500 bases.
The St. Paul, Minn., native was selected by the Brewers with the third overall pick in the 1977 draft out of the University of Minnesota, where he played from 1975-77.
Molitor made his reputation with the Brewers, won a World Series with the Blue Jays and finished his playing career with the Twins from 1996-98.
