Mariners bet big on a long-time target as their new manager

Jason Kanzler has been on Seattle Mariners' radar a long time.

Mariners general manager Justin Hollander said the team first talked to Kanzler as a hitting coach candidate in 2021.

That was after Kanzler served one year as the minor league hitting coordinator for the AL West rival Houston Astros.

Kanzler would join the Astros major league coaching staff for their World Series-winning 2022 team.

But Hollander said Kanzler left quite the impression on Seattle’s front office back then.

“We could not pry him away from the organization that shall not be named, but it was one of the most, if not the most, impressive interviews that I think all of us had ever been a part of,” Hollander said of Seattle’s new 36-year-old skipper.

“And when you have someone that’s like your white whale, someone that you’re really excited to get to work with someday, you don’t just end the process and throw their name out the window and never think about them again.”

The Mariners got another shot at their “white whale” over the past month.

They underwent a search for their next manager after parting ways with Dan Wilson when the season ended in late September.

Kanzler, who has been the Chicago Cubs director of player development since 2024, once again stood out in the process for Seattle.

It was perhaps even surprising to the Mariners brass.

“His name had come up over the years in different contexts. ‘How can we find a way to get to work with Kanz at some point?’ And when we started this process, it was just a name that got added to the pool, really with no expectation that we would lead to this point,” Hollander said.

“And to Jason’s credit, I think he left us no choice throughout the process. It was just round after round, conversation after conversation, he dominated the process to the degree that I think we would have been foolish to take all the hard work and throw it out the window and not choose him.”

The hiring marked the end of a lengthy managerial search that included as many as 40 candidates.

President of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto and general manager Justin Hollander hired Kanzler despite him not having any managerial experience.

He is the third skipper in Dipoto’s tenure in the Mariners front office, none of whom had experience managing a major league team beforehand.

Kanzler most recently had a three-year tenure as director of player development for the Chicago Cubs minor league system from 2024 through 2026.

Wednesday marked the first impression many Seattle fans had of Kanzler.

It also provided the first bit of inside knowledge on how the front office made the decision on the hire.

Following the dismissal of Dan Wilson as manager of the team in September, Dipoto said in a news scrum that someone with prior experience as a manager was preferred, but not a prerequisite in the team’s search for its new skipper.

Kanzler’s interview process superseded that preference for the front office.

“Experience is good,” Dipoto said.

“In this case, we didn’t think it was good enough to dissuade us from all of the traits that Jason brings to the table. He checked almost every box that you could check in terms of career experiences. The uniqueness of his developmental path, I think, is gonna go a long way with modern players. The way he communicates … it’s very clear. You won’t be confused as to what the directive is when you leave the station, and I think our players will pick up on that.”

At the conclusion of this past season, players spoke on a lack of accountability and an absence of identity as contributing factors for why the team fell short of the World Series-contender expectations it had entering the year.

Dipoto, in his news scrum at the end of the season, also brought up the team losing its identity.

Kanzler addressed that directly at his introductory press conference.

“The brand of baseball I’d like to see and be (manifested) in this identity is something akin to ‘step on their throats.’ We want to win. We want to beat the other team, but we have to do it in whatever way possible,” Kanzler said.

In a statement carried by MLB.com, Dipoto described Kanzler as having the “communication skills and intensity to help create a championship standard here in Seattle.”

At his introduction, those qualities started to take shape.

Kanzler came across as someone who had thought seriously about the daily work of leading people.

There was confidence in his delivery, along with a sense that he understood how much learning still comes with walking into a new clubhouse.

What stood out was the impression of a manager willing to give relationships time.

The nuance in Kanzler’s delivery suggested someone who understands that chemistry develops organically, through persistent and consistent communication.

Players learn how a manager operates by dealing with him every day.

They find out whether his explanations hold up, whether his expectations show consistency and whether they can bring him a problem before it becomes exacerbated.

It takes work.