52) Keith Johnson
Keith Johnson is the first base coach for the Miami Marlins and he is entering his second season there.
Johnson, 50, was slated to be the Marlins Triple-A manager in 2020 before the minor league season was canceled so he managed their team at their alternate site. That was his first season with the Marlins after he had been with the Angels organization for over a decade.
Johnson had a 12-year playing career which peaked in 2000 when he appeared in his only six MLB games. He retired after the 2003 season and started managing in 2008. He has managed 11 seasons in the minors (excluding 2020), including one season at Single-A, two seasons at Advanced-A, and eight seasons at Triple-A.
His only MLB coaching experience prior to joining the Marlins was in the final two months of the 2018 season when the Angels promoted him to their MLB coaching staff as an infield coach.
53) James Rowson
James Rowson is entering his third season as the bench coach for the Miami Marlins.
Rowson, 45, has a bit of an unorthodox rise to being a bench coach since the position is, by and large, the backup manager, and Rowson has never managed before. Rowson, like Donnie Ecker that we mentioned earlier, has a background as a hitting coach.
Prior to joining the Marlins, Rowson was the hitting coach for the Minnesota Twins from 2017 through 2019. Under his tutelage in 2019, the Twins hit an MLB record of 307 homers. He joined the Twins after he was the minor league hitting coordinator from 2014 through 2016 and, prior, in 2008 through 2011. In between those two, he was the minor league hitting coordinator for the Chicago Cubs in 2011 and their MLB hitting coach in 2012 and 2013.
He was a minor league hitting coach from 2002 through 2007 at the Rookie-level and at Single-A.
Rowson interviewed with the Twins for their managerial opening before the 2019 season but they hired Rocco Baldelli and he also interviewed with Boston before they rehired Alex Cora at the start of the 2021 season.