The Mariners plan to rent Kevin Seitzer as hitting coach, reviews Daniel Kramer of MLB.com. Edgar Martinez, who completed final season in that capability, will stay with the M’s in an overarching function. Kramer writes that Seitzer will report back to Martinez, so it appears the franchise icon continues to be the staff’s lead hitting voice. Martinez shouldn’t be anticipated to recurrently journey with the staff on highway journeys, although he’ll be concerned at Spring Coaching and through nearly all of the membership’s house video games. Adam Jude of the Seattle Instances tweets that Martinez’s official title will likely be senior director of hitting technique.
Moreover, Kramer reviews that the M’s are hiring Bobby Magallanes as assistant hitting coach. The 55-year-old spent the final 4 seasons working underneath Seitzer as an assistant hitting coach with the Braves.
Seitzer brings 20 years of hitting coach expertise to Dan Wilson’s employees. He’d labored in that capability with the Diamondbacks, Royals and Blue Jays earlier than being employed by the Braves in the course of the 2014-15 offseason. Seitzer spent 10 seasons as Atlanta’s hitting coach. The Braves have been contenders for many of that stretch.
The event of Ronald Acuña Jr., Austin Riley, Ozzie Albies and Michael Harris II into star gamers has clearly been an instrumental a part of the Braves’ success. Seitzer was lucky to work with quite a lot of gifted hitters, however he definitely deserves some quantity of credit score for overseeing a lineup that trails solely the Dodgers in scoring during the last 5 seasons.
Nonetheless, the 2024 marketing campaign was a combined bag. The Braves’ offense floundered for a number of months after Acuña’s season-ending knee damage. They completed the 12 months fifteenth in scoring with a .243/.309/.415 staff batting line. They have been within the prime 10 in slugging however proper within the center in each batting common and on-base proportion. That was beneath expectation for a staff with as a lot star energy because the Braves possess. Atlanta fired Seitzer, Magallanes, and catching coach Sal Fasano shortly after being eradicated from the playoffs.
It’s the most recent shakeup to Seattle’s hitting infrastructure. The Mariners have struggled for years to subject even a league common offense, which might most likely be adequate to get to the postseason given the power of their beginning pitching. The M’s employed Brant Brown as offensive coordinator final offseason. They fired him two months into the season in an effort to spark the lineup. That didn’t work, and the M’s dismissed hitting coach Jarret DeHart together with skipper Scott Servais three months later. Assistant hitting coach Tommy Joseph left the staff on the finish of the season to take the identical place with the Orioles.
Martinez joined the employees when his longtime teammate Wilson signed on as supervisor. He had beforehand been reluctant to imagine a full-time teaching place due to household issues. It appears they’ve settled on an unconventional function that’ll enable Martinez to stay actively concerned with out spending a lot time away from Seattle.
