The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
07.01.2019 | Softball
Singleton has most recently served as a hitting coach in the Minnesota Twins MiLB organization
AUSTIN, Texas – Texas head softball coach Mike White officially announced on Monday the addition of Steve Singleton as an assistant coach on the Longhorns staff.
A former shortstop and second baseman with the Minnesota Twins organization of Major League Baseball, Singleton possesses 13 combined years of college and pro playing and coaching experience.
"I'm excited to be able to add a coach of Steve's caliber to our Texas softball staff," White said. "Through his own extensive baseball playing career and his coaching experience within private, collegiate and MLB environments, he has picked up experience that will be invaluable to our program as we continue to build the Longhorns into a consistent national title contender. We're very pleased to have Steve, his wife Lisa and sons, Stephen and Mathew, as part of our Texas family."
He spent the past two seasons (2017, 2018) as the hitting coach of the Fort Myers (Fla.) Miracle (High Single A) and was originally contracted to be the hitting coach for the Pensacola (Fla.) Blue Wahoos (AA) in 2019 before deciding to accept the open assistant coach role with the Longhorns. He served as the U.S. hitting coach for the 2018 MLB All-Star Futures Game and spent time with the Twins during 2019 Spring Training, working with hitters, infielders and outfielders. During his stint as a minor league coach, he helped developed top Twins MiLB prospects Royce Lewis, Alex Kirilloff and Brent Rooker.
"I want to thank Coach White for the opportunity to join the Longhorns Softball program," Singleton said. "What he and Coach (Chelsea) Spencer & Cuico have built at both Oregon and Texas is very impressive, and I look forward to contributing to the future of the Longhorns program. What makes the University of Texas very attractive, aside from the city of Austin, are the building blocks in place to compete for a national title right now."
Singleton helped guide the Miracle to the 2018 Florida State League title by developing player routines, working to implement data-driven approaches to expedite player development and with players on their process, mental game and mindset. He also prepared daily opposing pitching and hitting scouting reports for both the manager and position players, built player development plans in collaboration with staff and front office, helped in Major League Spring Training with batting practice, cage work and in the dugout, assisted the organization in player movement, evaluation and placement of higher-level prospects and served as interim MiLB manager when required.
Prior to his time with the Miracle, Singleton led all offensive development for the rookie level Gulf Coast League Twins (Fort Myers, Fla.) in 2016. With the squad he served as both a first- and third-base coach, worked with infielders on daily skill development, helped implement and teach the system, plays, ideology and culture of a MLB club to entry level minor league players and helped the front office and minor league staff implement organizational objectives.
At the collegiate level, Singleton was previously an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Florida SouthWestern State College (Fort Myers, Fla.) from Jan.-Dec. 2015. During his brief time with the program, he worked to land a recruiting class that consisted of four eventual MLB draft picks and 10 NCAA Division 1 transfers. Besides recruiting efforts, he was also in charge of hitting development and theory as well as infield/outfield defense. He ran the team's speed and agility programs, handled all budgeting, travel planning and expenses, assisted with scheduling, supervised weight training sessions and handled camp scheduling and marketing while also coaching first base on game days.
Singleton served as the Vice President of Baseball Operations for Scout Sports (Sealy, Texas) in 2014, where he ran the scout baseball division, a high school recruiting, video and showcase company. He also spent time in 2013 as the hitting and head infield instructor for Baseball Rebellion (Durham., N.C.), providing one-on-one private instruction that included extensive video breakdown while handling sales, marketing and advertising to reach new clientele.
An 11th round draft pick out of the University of San Diego (2006), Singleton played in 654 career games from rookie to AAA level as a shortstop and second baseman in the Twins organization. He registered a .282 career batting average, while earning three Minor League All-Star nods (2008, 2009, 2010), was a 2009 Arizona Fall League participant and received a 2010 invite to MLB Spring Training. He led the Appalachian League in both batting average (.340) and triples (five) during the 2006 campaign and topped the Eastern League, while tying for second in MiLB, in doubles (43) in 2010.
Singleton began his scholastic career at the University of San Diego before leaving school early when drafted by the Twins. He eventually went on to earn both a bachelor's degree in sports management (2014) and a master's degree in athletic administration (2017) from Southern New Hampshire University. He is married to Lisa and has two sons, Stephen and Mathew.
