Edgar Martinez is ready to do more as the Mariners’ hitting coach

The Mariners came out with some pretty stunning news Saturday afternoon as Edgar Martinez was named Major League hitting coach.

The stunner wasn’t that Howard Johnson had been re-assigned in the organization, as hitting coaches unfortunately are are typically the first to fall when the offense struggles. Who his replacement was, though – well, that was one of the bigger surprises I have heard in many years covering this team.

Edgar Martinez. Owner of a lifetime .312/.418/.515/.933 line and the man the designated hitter award has been named after. The same player Pedro Martinez and Mariano Rivera declared to be the toughest hitter they ever faced. Martinez will be back in the Mariners’ dugout wearing No. 11.

Of course, he won’t be swinging the bat, but the knowledge he can share with those who do is priceless. I have had many conservations with former teammates of Edgar’s – from Mike Blowers to Jay Buhner, Ken Griffey Jr., Dan Wilson and Dave Valle – about what he accomplished in his career, and to a man they all said that what he did as a teammate was as valuable as what he did at the plate.

In games he shared information about what he saw from opposing pitchers and the approach he would take against them. Away from the game he was always available to help with a swing or more study and conversation. Those are skills that surely would help him if he ever decided to become a hitting coach.

Hear Edgar Martinez on the Mariners pregame show

Now he is. That’s the surprise. Edgar’s passion for hitting has never diminished. You hear it every time you talk baseball with him. His desire to help the Mariners has always been there. Year after year he’s helped out in spring training with the minor leaguers and this year he expanded that role to working with them in-season. It wasn’t a full-time role, though, and with a still-young family I thought that Edgar was probably years away from taking on the grind of a big-league season again, if ever.

This came down fast. On Thursday Edgar joined us on the pregame show for the roundtable segment, and I posted the audio on this blog because the hitting conservation was so good. When it was over I thought to myself what a good thing it was he was working with the minor-league hitters. I didn’t think working with the big-leaguers was an option. Although he was at the ballpark and in the clubhouse from time to time, that door did not seem to be open.

Before the pregame segment went live on the air we all chatted briefly together. Edgar talked about what his kids had been up to. He also talked about his new travel schedule to the minor-league affiliates and someone joked that his wife Holli was probably trying to get him out of the house more. I doubt that she gave him the push, but when general manager Jack Zduriencik called, apparently he was more ready than any of us thought.

Edgar Martinez is back with the Mariners.

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