The Detroit Tigers are bringing Martin Maldonado into their coaching staff, adding the longtime catcher as a quality control coach and reuniting him with manager AJ Hinch.
Maldonado is 40 and spent 14 seasons in Major League Baseball. He’ll join Detroit after serving as a special assistant with the Atlanta Braves during the 2026 season, and The Athletic first reported the hire.
His connection with Hinch runs through Houston, where Maldonado played under him during parts of the 2018 and 2019 seasons. The Astros brought him over from the Los Angeles Angels at the 2018 trade deadline to help stabilize their defense and handle the pitching staff that included Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole. After Maldonado left in free agency, Houston got him back the next season.
The Puerto Rico native stayed with the Astros for six seasons, through 2023. He was behind the plate for Framber Valdez in the Astros’ 2022 World Series clincher against the Philadelphia Phillies, a Game 6 win, and he also caught Valdez’s no-hitter in 2023.
Valdez, who signed a three-year, $115 million deal with the Tigers in the previous winter’s free agency, has thrown more big-league innings with Maldonado catching than with any other backstop. In 2026, Valdez posted a 4.03 ERA over 174 innings for Detroit.
Maldonado’s career stretched across seven major league franchises: Houston, the Angels, the Milwaukee Brewers, the Chicago Cubs, the San Diego Padres, the Kansas City Royals and the Chicago White Sox. He picked up a Gold Glove with the Angels in 2017 and wrapped up his playing career in 2025 after appearing in 1,230 major-league games. His final appearance as a player came with Puerto Rico in the 2026 World Baseball Classic, when the team fell to Italy in the quarterfinals.
Detroit’s hiring fills the quality control opening created when Billy Boyer shifted to third-base coach in July to replace Joey Cora. The Tigers still have vacancies at first-base coach and assistant pitching coach after the departures of Anthony Sanders and Juan Nieves.
Maldonado had already drawn coaching attention after retiring. Houston had previously tried to bring him onto its staff in a push led by senior adviser Jeff Bagwell, but that effort didn’t get done. Now he’s headed into coaching with Hinch again, and he is also set to manage Indios de Mayaguez in Puerto Rico’s Winter League.
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