David Popkins

Popkins was born on November 16, 1989, in San Diego, California. His mother, Delores, was a teacher, and his father, Michael, is a San Diego Superior Court judge and former public defender. ==High school career==

Popkins attended St. Augustine High School in San Diego, California, graduating in 2008. He was a two-way player for the school's baseball team, the St. Augustine Saints. In his junior season, Popkins earned first-team All-Eastern League honors. During his senior season, he had a .422 batting average, a .525 on-base percentage (OBP), eight home runs, and 42 runs batted in (RBIs). As a pitcher, Popkins recorded a 5–2 win–loss record and 3.02 earned run average (ERA). His senior season accolades included his second first-team All-Eastern League selection, the Eastern League Player of the Year award, and first-team all-state honors for medium schools. Popkins received All-CIF San Diego Section honors every year of his high school career. In addition to baseball, Popkins also played football. He played as a quarterback on the school's football team, throwing for 1,304 yards and 16 touchdowns in his senior season. ==College career==

Popkins played college baseball for the UC Davis Aggies from 2009 to 2012. He finished the season with a .388 batting average, five home runs, and 43 RBIs in 51 games. He led the UC Davis offense with a team-high .388 batting average, 43 RBIs, and 73 hits. His .388 batting average ranked third in the Big West Conference. As a pitcher, he finished the season with a 3–2 record, a 6.67 ERA, and 18 strikeouts in innings pitched across 16 games (two starts). He earned his first career All-Big West First Team honors. With this performance, he remains tied for the most hits in a single game in program history with six. Popkins did not pitch during his senior season and finished with a .276 batting average, five home runs, and 18 RBIs in 50 games. ==Professional career==

Minor leagues (2012–2014) After a four-season college baseball career at UC Davis, Popkins signed with the St. Louis Cardinals as an undrafted free agent on June 19, 2012. Popkins began the 2013 season with the Class A Peoria Chiefs before being promoted to the Advanced-A Palm Beach Cardinals on April 25, where he spent the rest of the season. With the Cardinals, he was named the Florida State League (FSL) Topps Player of the Month for June after leading the FSL with a .413 batting average and 38 hits. His .450 on-base percentage (OBP) was second in the league, .598 slugging percentage (SLG) was fourth in the league, 1.048 on-base plus slugging (OPS) was third in the league, and 18 runs scored was fifth in the league. He recorded a hit in his first 12 games of the month and recorded at least one hit in 22 of 24 games played for the month. Popkin's finished the 2013 season batting a combined .310/.371/.453 with six home runs and 45 RBIs in 97 games. He was named an FSL Post-Season All-Star in recognition of his performance throughout the season. During a game against the Tulsa Drillers on August 23, Popkins made the first and only pitching appearance of his minor league career. He entered as a reliever for pitcher Chris Thomas to start the top of the ninth inning with the Cardinals trailing 10–2. He gave up a three-run home run to David Kandilas before striking out Chris O'Dowd to end the inning. The Cardinals eventually lost the game 13–3. Popkins finished the 2014 season batting a combined .243/.313/.358 with seven home runs and 34 RBIs in 115 games. As a pitcher, he finished the season with a 0–0 win–loss record, a 27.00 earned run average (ERA), and one strikeout in 1.0 inning pitched in one relief appearance. Popkins finished the 2016 season batting .281/.411/.533 with 15 home runs and 48 RBIs in 94 games. ==Coaching career==

Minor leagues (2019–2021) After working in hitting labs, Popkins found a permanent position within the Philadelphia Phillies' system. He called Robert Van Scoyoc, a private hitting instructor he'd previously worked with, to inform him that he was accepting the role. By then, Van Scoyoc had become the Los Angeles Dodgers' hitting coach and wanted Popkins to work with the Dodgers instead. The Dodgers did not have an open salaried position to add another coach, but they circumvented this by signing Popkins as a free agent to a minor league contract as a player on March 16, 2019. In his second season with the Dodgers organization, Popkins was named a hitting coach for the AZL Dodgers, the team's Rookie-level affiliate. However, the 2020 season was entirely canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The following year, Popkins was named the hitting coach for the Great Lakes Loons, the Dodgers' High-A affiliate, for the 2021 season. Minnesota Twins (2022–2024) On November 8, 2021, the Minnesota Twins hired Popkins to be the team's co-hitting coach. After three seasons with the Twins, Popkins was dismissed by the organization on October 1, 2024. Toronto Blue Jays (2025–present) On October 21, 2024, the Toronto Blue Jays hired Popkins to be the team's new hitting coach. In Popkins' first season in charge of the Blue Jays' offense, the team employed a contact-first approach and finished the 2025 regular season leading MLB in several offensive categories while ranking near the top in others. The Blue Jays led MLB with a .265 batting average, a .333 on-base percentage (OBP), and 1,461 hits. They recorded 1,099 strikeouts, the second-fewest in MLB ahead of the Kansas City Royals' 1096 strikeouts. The Blue Jays ranked third in MLB with a .760 on-base plus slugging (OPS), which was second in the American League (AL) behind the New York Yankees' .787 OPS. They tied for third in MLB with the Chicago Cubs with 771 runs batted in (RBIs), ranking second in the AL behind the Yankees' 820 RBIs. The team ranked fourth in MLB with 798 runs scored, which was second in the AL behind the Yankees' 849 runs scored. The Blue Jays finished the 2025 postseason leading MLB in almost every offensive category with 667 at bats, a .285 batting average, a .352 OBP, a .471 slugging percentage (SLG), a .823 OPS, 28 home runs, 99 RBIs, 190 hits, 36 doubles, 105 runs scored, and 314 total bases. Additionally, they tied for first in MLB with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies with two triples, which was first in the AL, and ranked second in MLB with 61 walks, behind the Dodgers' 68 walks. ==References==