The Mariners plan to rent Kevin Seitzer as hitting coach, stories Daniel Kramer of MLB.com. Edgar Martinez, who completed final season in that capability, will stay with the M’s in an overarching position. Kramer writes that Seitzer will report back to Martinez, so it appears the franchise icon remains to be the crew’s lead hitting voice. Martinez just isn’t anticipated to usually journey with the crew on highway journeys, although he’ll be concerned at Spring Coaching and through the vast majority of the membership’s residence video games. Adam Jude of the Seattle Occasions tweets that Martinez’s official title will probably be senior director of hitting technique.
Moreover, Kramer stories that the M’s are hiring Bobby Magallanes as assistant hitting coach. The 55-year-old spent the final 4 seasons working below Seitzer as an assistant hitting coach with the Braves.
Seitzer brings 20 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 whole lot of gifted hitters, however he definitely 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 12 months fifteenth in scoring with a .243/.309/.415 crew batting line. They have been within the prime 10 in slugging however proper within the center in each batting common and on-base share. That was beneath expectation for a crew 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 newest 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 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 crew 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 issues. It appears they’ve settled on an unconventional position that’ll permit Martinez to stay actively concerned with out spending a lot time away from Seattle.
