The Seattle Mariners are reportedly set to hire 36-year-old Jason Kanzler as their new manager, according to MLB.com reporter Daniel Kramer. The move is sending shockwaves through MLB, as Kanzler will be a first-time big-league manager with no prior managerial experience. The up and rising Kanzler has spent the last few years working with the Chicago Cubs as the team’s farm director, so now Jed Hoyer will have to find a replacement to head the player development side of the organization with Kanzler’s departure.
Kanzler has coached in the big leagues, most recently as the Houston Astros’ assistant hitting coach under Joe Espada in 2023. After that, the Cubs hired him as farm director, a role he’s led for the past three years. Now, with outside-the-box thinking, Kanzler is the newest Mariners manager.
The Minnesota Twins drafted Kanzler in the 20th round out of the University at Buffalo in 2013. The outfielder played three minor league seasons, reaching High-A Ball in 2015 before stepping away from pro baseball. Kanzler stayed close to the game, becoming a coach in the Cape Cod League, and was eventually hired by the Houston Astros before the 2019 season as a minor-league hitting coordinator.
The Astros promoted Kanzler to Houston’s MLB staff in 2022, and in 2023 he served as the team’s assistant hitting coach before joining the Cubs organization in 2024.
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This one is a bit of a stunner, as Chicago Cubs farm director Jason Kanzler is no longer simply a candidate to replace Dan Wilson in 2027, the 36-year-old Cubs exec now appears to be a finalist to become the new Seattle Mariners manager.
It’s a shocking twist in the Mariners’ manager search, but you can’t say Jerry Dipoto isn’t opposed to trying new things as Seattle’s president of baseball operations. Kanzler has big-league coaching experience, including serving as the Houston Astros’ assistant hitting coach in 2023, but he’s focused on player development with the Cubs for the past three seasons.
Meanwhile, former Astros’ manager Joe Espada is another finalist, as the Mariners have moved on to in-person interviews, which Kanzler will be a part of.
Via MLB.com.
At least two candidates will meet with club brass at T-Mobile Park — former Astros manager Joe Espada and Cubs director of player development Jason Kanzler.
The in-person interviews for Espada and Kanzler will feature a carwash of meetings, spanning ownership, the front office and members of the coaching staff that were retained for 2027, among others. Some within the organization that will be included in this week’s process explicitly flew into town to take part, in addition to Espada and Kanzler.
It’s unclear if this represents a “finalist” stage — though for both candidates, it will be their third round of interviews, following virtual meetings earlier this month. The in-person confabs will be the first that include the Major League coaching staff.
Meanwhile, Rocco Baldelli, previously named a candidate for the Seattle job, reportedly withdrew from consideration this past weekend, according to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal.
It would certainly be an expected name, because although we’ve seen other front offices take risks on first-time managers, those are usually guys with recent MLB playing experience. We’ll see where this process ends up, but you have to imagine Kanzler is interviewing incredibly well if he is now in the final stages of Seattle’s hiring process.
