Buster Olney sees a clear pattern in the Mariners’ latest coaching move, and he likes what it says about where the organization is headed.
On the most recent edition of the “Refuse to Lose Territory” podcast, the ESPN MLB Insider weighed in on Seattle’s hire of Tanner Swanson as bench coach and made it clear the former Yankees catching coordinator carries real respect around the game.
“Yes, very respected within the Yankees organization.
Look, there’s so many teams that are known for one particular skill within the sport. You know, Tampa Bay Rays for years have been the team that rehabilitated pitchers and brought them forward.
The Milwaukee Brewers, because of their great catching coordinator, Charlie Green, they have excelled at developing catchers who are really good at framing, you know, on and on. Like, their different teams are known for different things.
The Yankees in recent years have had as good of catching development as any organization in the sport. And Tanner Swanson is behind that. And he’s highly respected.
And I tweeted about this the other day. You know, between Jason (Kanzler) being named the Mariners manager, someone who’s known as a hitting guru, and Tanner Swanson being named the bench coach, and someone who’s really good at this, I’ve had conversations, front office people like, ‘we’re starting to see a trend in baseball.’
And when you think about where the sport is, it makes sense. It totally makes sense because so many young guys now promoted the big leagues and they haven’t had, I mean, back in the day, you know, you would play, you know, 800 games in minor leagues or whatever the number would be, much more time spent in the minor leagues than now.
Now they’re brought to the big leagues sooner. They’re still learning on the job.
Tanner Swanson is someone who I think absolutely is going to, you know, he’s very good at developing catchers. I think he’ll continue to do that.
And I’m sure that someone Jason’s going to rely on.”
Olney’s comments line up with the buzz already building around the hire. Earlier this week, former Mariners outfielder Braden Bishop said he was a fan of the move, noting Swanson’s background with the Yankees and his past time as an assistant coach at the University of Washington, where Bishop played.
There is, though, one practical wrinkle to sort through. Swanson’s reputation is built on catching instruction, but his new title is bench coach. That raises the question of how Seattle will divide the work in that area: whether the Mariners will bring in a separate catching coordinator, whether Swanson will stay heavily involved with Cal Raleigh and the rest of the catching group, or whether he’ll handle both jobs at once.
It’s a small detail, but it’s one worth watching as the Mariners head toward 2027.
Swanson’s coaching path also includes time in the Washington junior college ranks before his stops at UW and with the Yankees.
Seattle is trying to keep moving quickly on the roster side as well, with the looming MLB lockout just 2.5 weeks away from shutting down the offseason. The Mariners have been most aggressively tied to longtime Chicago Cubs outfielder Seiya Suzuki, who is now 32 and is coming off a 26-homer season along with a strong defensive year in right field. A deal would likely require at least $100 million, but it could also help the Mariners get back into the Japanese market, where they haven’t signed a player since Yusei Kikuchi in 2019.
The Mariners are set to open the season on March 25 at home against the Boston Red Sox.
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