Aaron Boone is expected back for a ninth season as Yankees manager, but his staff will look a bit different.
The club is not bringing back longtime bullpen coach Mike Harkey and first base/infield coach Travis Chapman, The Post’s Joel Sherman confirmed on Tuesday, while hitting coach James Rowson will be interviewing for the vacant Twins manager job, sources told The Post’s Jon Heyman and Sherman.
Third base/outfield coach Luis Rojas has also interviewed for the vacant Orioles managerial post, as SNY first reported, while the Yankees are expected to add minor league hitting coordinator Jake Hirst to the big league staff.
The departures of Harkey and Chapman, first reported by SNY, come after a season in which the Yankees came up short again, falling to the Blue Jays in the ALDS.
The Yankees, meanwhile, granted the Twins permission to speak with Rowson, who oversaw the highest-scoring offense in the majors this season. He previously served as Twins hitting coach from 2017-2019 and remains well-regarded in Minnesota.
The 58-year-old Harkey, one of Boone’s closest friends on his staff and beloved by players, also served as bullpen coach for Joe Girardi. He first joined the Yankees staff with Girardi in 2008 — the last uniformed link to the club’s most recent World Series championship in 2009. His group was typically a strength of the Yankees year in and year out, though this season the bullpen finished with a 4.37 ERA — the eighth highest in the majors.
“For me, he’s such a rock and an amazing sounding board and friend,” Boone said around this time last year. “So much experience now in the game as a player and as a coach. Obviously great at what he does and in his role. I just feel so lucky that he’s on our staff and been a rock for me over the years.”
Chapman, who had been on Boone’s staff since 2022, entered the spotlight this season in August, when the Yankees were swept by the Marlins and the self-inflicted mistakes included Jazz Chisholm Jr. getting doubled off at first base on a pop-up to the second baseman. Boone was visibly frustrated with Chapman afterward in the dugout, though he later downplayed it and claimed they were just talking about having the proper communication on the play.
There was also some defensive regression from shortstop Anthony Volpe during a rough summer slump, though Chapman, 47, was also the infield coach in 2023, when Volpe won a Gold Glove as a rookie.
Hirst has experience with many of the Yankees’ younger hitters, having coached Anthony Volpe, Austin Wells, Jasson Domínguez and Ben Rice, among others, between stops as a hitting coach at High-A Hudson Valley and Double-A Somerset.
Rojas, who is well-liked within the Yankees organization, previously managed the Mets from 2020-2021 before joining Boone’s staff. He is viewed as someone who will eventually get another shot at managing, whether or not it happens this offseason.
As for Rowson, the upbeat 49-year-old remains a popular figure in Minnesota, as he spent plenty of time catching up with members of his former organization when the Yankees visited Target Field in September.
Former Pirates manager Derek Shelton and Red Sox bench coach Ramón Vázquez are among the other candidates for the job, which opened up when the Twins fired Rocco Baldelli following their 70-92 season.
Before joining Boone’s staff ahead of the 2024 season, Rowson also served as Marlins bench coach under Don Mattingly from 2020-2022. As Twins hitting coach, he worked with the 2019 team known as the Bomba Squad that crushed an MLB record 307 home runs (which the Braves tied in 2023).
The Mount Vernon native has plenty of fans in the Yankees clubhouse, including Aaron Judge, who first worked with him when Rowson was the organization’s minor league hitting coordinator. Rowson’s pregame hitters meetings have become popular for their energetic nature, mixing business with fun to keep his players both prepared and entertained.
