The Mariners plan to rent Kevin Seitzer as hitting coach, studies 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 workforce’s lead hitting voice. Martinez shouldn’t be anticipated to usually journey with the workforce on highway journeys, although he’ll be concerned at Spring Coaching and through nearly all of the membership’s dwelling video games. Adam Jude of the Seattle Instances tweets that Martinez’s official title will probably be senior director of hitting technique.
Moreover, Kramer studies that the M’s are hiring Bobby Magallanes as assistant hitting coach. The 55-year-old spent the final 4 seasons working beneath Seitzer as an assistant hitting coach with the Braves.
Seitzer brings twenty years of hitting coach expertise to Dan Wilson’s workers. 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 a number of proficient hitters, however he actually deserves some quantity of credit score for overseeing a lineup that trails solely the Dodgers in scoring over the past 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 harm. They completed the yr fifteenth in scoring with a .243/.309/.415 workforce 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 workforce 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 enough to get to the postseason given the energy 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 workforce on the finish of the season to take the identical place with the Orioles.
Martinez joined the workers when his longtime teammate Wilson signed on as supervisor. He had beforehand been reluctant to imagine a full-time teaching place due to household concerns. 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.
