Texas State baseball assistant coach Danny David-Linahan has brought an innovative big-league mentality to San Marcos.
“[Linahan] came from where everybody on this team wants to go, which is the big leagues,” shortstop Ryne Farber said. “To have a guy that has that experience has been super helpful. Just thinking about hitting in a different way, I think, is going to help us have a really good offensive year.”
Linahan joined Texas State head coach Steven Trout’s staff on Nov. 7, 2024, as an assistant coach after spending the last two seasons as the Minnesota Twins’ run production coordinator. His duties with the Twins included overseeing game planning, helping hitters break down opposing pitchers and offering mechanical and mental strategies.
Linahan’s professional coaching career began in 2020 with the Los Angeles Dodgers organization, where he served as a minor league players development coach for two seasons before joining the Cleveland Guardians as a minor league hitting coach. He joined Minnesota in 2023.
“You take a guy from the Minnesota Twins clubhouse and put him right with our guys, going from working with Carlos Correa and [Byron] Buxton and those guys to working with our players,” Trout said. “Just his experience, even though he’s only 27 years old, is off the charts.
With the Bobcats, Linahan’s duties include helping recruiting coordinator Josh Blakley with recruiting, serving as the hitting coach and working with the catchers on technique and pitcher communication. His hitting coach responsibilities include working with hitters on their swings and approach and helping them connect what they do in the weight room to the batter’s box.
“[Linahan] brings that big league mentality, just making sure we are hunting a specific location… [he] even [helps with] the routines.. that’s been really huge,” infielder Chase Mora said.
Having worked with some of the world’s best hitters, Linahan hopes to bring what he learned in his professional baseball coaching career to Texas State.
“From a scouting standpoint, we just got a trackman, which is the same system we had in the big leagues,” Linahan said. “[I’m] just trying to get an idea of the pitcher we are facing and what he has and give our guys an idea of what it’s going to look like before they get in the box. We want to try to pride ourselves in being the best offense in the country the first time through the order just to show we are better prepared than anyone else.”
Linahan joined a Texas State squad coming off a disappointing 2024 season where they failed to make the conference tournament. Last season, the Bobcats posted what appears to be a respectable slash line: .270/.380/.417. But across the Sun Belt Conference, they ranked tenth in batting average, eighth in on-base percentage and ninth in slugging percentage. Linahan’s addition to Trout’s staff signifies a change was needed and wanted in San Marcos.
The Linahan era has started off in the right direction. The Bobcats are 5-2, with a win against Oklahoma State.
Next, Linahan and the Bobcats will take on No. 1 Texas A&M at 6 p.m. on Tuesday at Blue Bell Park in College Station. The game will be available to stream on SEC Network+.
