Seattle Mariners Fire Bench Coach Amid Offensive Slump.
The Seattle Mariners announced on Friday that they have parted ways with offensive coordinator and bench coach Brant Brown. Director of hitting strategy Jarret DeHart and assistant hitting coach Tommy Joseph will expand their current roles to compensate for Brown’s absence.
Brown, who specializes on the mental side of baseball, was hired by the Mariners in November to supplement DeHart. Brown also served as a bench coach for manager (and former teammate) Scott Servais. He had previously served as a hitting coach for the Marlins and Dodgers at the major league level.
Mariners Fire Bench Coach Brant Brown Amid Offensive Struggles.
Currently sporting a record of 31-27, the Seattle Mariners are overall having a good season. Seattle sits in first place in the American League West by three games, largely due to their strong pitching staff. The Mariners have a collective ERA of 3.58, the ninth lowest in the majors, but their offense ranks among the league’s least productive.
Seattle has scored the second-fewest runs (3.6 per game) and lead the league in strikeouts with 567, 27 more than second-worst Oakland. The Mariners are hitting .211/.295/.361 as a team and are batting six percent below league average overall.
Brown, who previously served as a minor league coordinator for Seattle, served as the Marlins hitting coach last season. Brent Brown had success helping Miami reach the postseason in 2023. Previously, he won the World Series in the pandemic-shortened season in 2020, serving as a hitting coach for the Dodgers. He was hired after then-bullpen coach Stephen Vogt, who would have been promoted to a bench coach, took the Guardians managerial position.
During the offseason, the Mariners front office expressed a desire to reduce the team’s strikeout-heavy tendencies. This led to the departures of Teoscar Hernández, Mike Ford, Jarred Kelenic, Eugenio Suárez and Tom Murphy. Though the Mariners are striking out at a 28.3% rate, easily the worst in the majors. While Seattle brought in players with strikeout tendencies, their ongoing problem with strikeouts may have played a role in Brown’s departure.
“We know we are capable of so much more,” manager Scott Servais said.
Servais will continue to serve as Seattle’s manager, while DeHart and Joseph assume expanded roles with the Mariners hitters. It’s the first time during the Jerry Dipoto-Scott Servais era that Seattle has fired a hitting coach midway through a season.
