LAS VEGAS — As the Yankees considered moving on from James Rowson, the hitting coach moved on first.
Rowson, who had an expiring contract with the Yankees, is leaving to join the Giants’ coaching staff as their offensive coordinator, The Post’s Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman reported Wednesday.
Brian Cashman was non-committal on Rowson while speaking to reporters Tuesday, describing the coach as a “free agent” who was speaking to other teams while the Yankees were “engaged in the marketplace and also internally, determining what’s next and best for us.”
Either way, Rowson’s departure had appeared likely since Hal Steinbrenner blamed the offense for another season gone by without a championship — describing it as an issue for the last two years.
It remains to be seen what the Yankees will do with assistant hitting coaches Casey Dykes and Jake Hirst.
Rowson had been the Yankees’ hitting coach since 2024, after they fired Dillon Lawson midseason in 2023 and used Sean Casey as an interim hitting coach for the rest of that season.
The Mount Vernon native, who previously spent time as the Yankees’ minor league hitting coordinator before working with the Cubs, Twins, Marlins and Tigers, had plenty of fans in the clubhouse, most notably Aaron Judge.
This marks the third departure from Aaron Boone’s staff this offseason, after major league field coordinator/director of catching Tanner Swanson left to become the Mariners’ bench coach and bench coach Brad Ausmus left to become the Astros’ manager.
