New Seattle Mariners Manager Dan Wilson Comments on Edgar Martinez as Hitting Coach
SEATTLE — Former Seattle Mariners catcher and team Hall of Famer Dan Wilson took on the latest of many hats he's worn with the franchise starting on Thursday when he was named the new manager.
Wilson got an additional vote of confidence from the front office when he was named the permanent manager instead of the interim one as originally thought.
Wilson was on Seattle's 1995, 1997, 2000 and 2001 playoff teams. And one of his former teammates on those teams, 2019 National Baseball Hall of Famer Edgar Martinez, also was named to a new role within the organization.
Martinez was named the team's new hitting coach after Jarrett DeHart, the previous hitting coach, was also fired on Thursday along with former manager Scott Servais.
Martinez played his entire 18-year career with the Mariners from 1987-2004. He was a seven-time All-Star, five-time Silver Slugger award winner, two-time American League batting champion, one-time AL RBI leader. He also had his No. 11 retired by the organization.
Martinez had had several roles with the team since his retirement. He was previously the hitting coach for the team from 2015-2018. Under his coaching in 2015, the team's batting average improved from .232 in the first 68 games of the season to .260 in the the last 94 games of the year. He moved to a hitting advisor role after the 2018 season.
During Wilson's introductory news conference on Friday, he offered a vote of confidence for Martinez as the hitting coach.
"I think there's no one I trust more with hitters than Edgar," Wilson said. "The thing about Edgar that I think a lot of people don't understand is that he was a tremendous hitter. He just had tremendous talent. But that's not all he had. He studies hitting, he's a student of hitting. And he can break it down better than anybody. And I think that was the first thought that came to my mind. I know he's familiar with a lot of these guys.
"He spends a lot of time here during the season anyway. But the idea that he can talk a lot about mechanics, as a lot of hitting coaches can, but also his ideas behind approach, behind the mindset in the batter's box — those are things that I think he does exceptionally well at."
The Mariners will have a long climb to try and get back in the playoff picture. But it seems that Martinez and Wilson are prepared for the trek.
They enter play on Saturday at 4.5 games back in the American League West race. They beat the San Francisco Giants on Friday, 6-5.
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MARINERS INTRODUCE WILSON AS MANAGER: Former Seattle Mariners catcher, team Hall of Famer and new team manager Dan Wilson spoke to the media before Friday's game against the San Francisco Giants. CLICK HERE
FORMER MARINERS MANAGER COMMENTS ON FIRING: Nine-year Seattle Mariners manager Scott Servais released a statement on the heels of the organization's decision to fire him on Thursday. CLICK HERE
MLB INSIDER 'SURPRISED' HOW SERVAIS DISCOVERED DISMISSAL: The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal said he was surprised about how Scott Servais found out the news that he was fired. CLICK HERE
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