Mariners hire franchise legend as interim hitting coach

The Mariners announced Friday afternoon that they’ve hired Edgar Martinez as hitting coach for the remainder of the season. Adam Jude of the Seattle Times first reported Thursday that the Hall of Famer was going to join new manager Dan Wilson’s staff. The role was unreported, but in tandem with Seattle’s dismissal of hitting coach Jarret DeHart, it wasn’t hard to read between the lines.

While the M’s made clear that Wilson is their full-time manager, Martinez’s status after the year is up in the air. Seattle’s news release specified that Martinez has only taken the job for the final couple months of this season. The M’s would presumably be happy to keep him around beyond this year, but the 61-year-old has previously cited a desire for a less demanding position than a regular coaching role.

Few hitters are more accomplished than Martinez. He won two batting titles and three Silver Slugger awards during his 18-year big league career. Martinez made seven All-Star teams and finished his playing days with a .312/.418/.515 slash line. He spent his entire career with the M’s and was inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame within three years of his retirement after the 2004 season. While it took more than a decade, he eventually earned the sport’s highest honors with election into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in January 2019.

Wilson was an All-Star catcher who played for the Mariners from 1994-2005. He overlapped with Martinez for all but the final season. The two have both remained involved with the organization in their post-playing days. Martinez worked as hitting coach on Lloyd McClendon’s and Scott Servais’ staffs between 2015-18. He stepped down after the 2018 campaign and moved into a less intensive role as organizational hitting advisor — a position that enabled him to work with both minor league and MLB players. Wilson had been a special assistant for player development for seven years before moving into the manager’s office.

This article first appeared on MLB Trade Rumors and was syndicated with permission.