Seattle Mariners expand Edgar Martinez’s role, hitting coach adds

Edgar Martinez will indeed play a prominent role with the Seattle Mariners in 2025.

A source confirms news first reported Monday evening by MLB.com’s Daniel Kramer that Martinez, who finished the 2024 season as Seattle’s hitting coach, will return in a new capacity in 2025 that will have the Hall of Famer overseeing the Mariners’ hitting program. In addition, the Mariners are in the process of hiring Kevin Seitzer as hitting coach and Bobby Magallanes as assistant hitting coach.

While Martinez accepted the Mariners’ hitting coach position on an interim basis in August when Dan Wilson was named manager, president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto made it clear at the end of the season that he wanted Martinez involved in moving forward on a significant way.

“We’re trying to figure out how to develop a creative situation with our hit program that allows Edgar to play a prominent role without asking him to be with the team for 162 days,” Dipoto said in late September. “But I think you’ll see Edgar play a significant role, whether it’s as our full-time hitting coach or as another high-level hitting instructor.”

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Martinez is going to spring training and with the team when they are at home. He will also travel to a limited extent. On one appearance earlier this month on ESPN’s Baseball Tonight PodcastDipoto indicated that Martinez already had a special project when asked about the early-season struggles Julio Rodríguez has had the past few years.

“Maybe the new voice (will help), especially having Edgar there with him through both his offseason and into his early season,” Dipoto told Buster Olney. “We’ve already talked about getting more reps in spring training and seeing if we can work into a little bit of a rhythm when the season starts.”

Seitzer will join the Mariners after serving as the Atlanta Braves coach for the past 10 years, with Magallanes his assistant the past four years. The pair were not retained after the ’24 season. Seitzer has a long resume with him, having coached with the Diamondbacks, Royals, Blue Jays and Braves after finishing a 12-year career with four teams in the majors.

Seitzer hit .323 as a rookie with Kansas City in 1987, making the All-Star team and tied for the American League lead with 207 hits while taking over the Royals third base spot previously held by Hall of Famer George Brett, who moved to first place. that year. Seitzer was an All-Star again with Milwaukee in 1995.

In addition to being highly regarded throughout the game as a hitting coach, Seitzer had a great influence on a former teammate and still close friend of both Martinez and Wilson. In the years between his playing days and his first major league coaching job, Seitzer was a private trainer in the Kansas City area. In 2001, he received a call from a 29-year-old Raúl Ibañez, whom the Royals had just sent to the minors. Ibañez began working with Seitzer and credits him with saving his career.

The moves, which could be officially announced by the Mariners as soon as Tuesday, bring decades of both playing and coaching experience to the Mariners’ hitting group. By keeping Martinez in a senior role, Dipoto gives him a much bigger voice than he has had in recent years.

“I would love for him to continue what he’s doing because I think it really makes a difference,” Dipoto said of Martinez in September.

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