Former Seattle Mariners OF is a Big Fan of Recent Coaching Hires

While it's not yet finalized, the Seattle Mariners have done some significant work lately on filling out their coaching staff.

First off, the M's hired 36-year-old Jason Kanzler as their manager to replace Dan Wilson. Then, they brought in CJ Gillman as hitting coach, and they've also announced Tanner Swanson as their new bench coach. Swanson was previously the catching coordinator for the New York Yankees.

ESPN MLB Insider Buster Olney pointed out that the M's seem to be hiring a staff full of "instructors," akin to what you see in the NFL, and I am optimistic about the new staff as well. However, some fans are worried about the lack of experience that the collective new group has.

At this point in the offseason, it's fair to feel however you want to feel, because nobody has the true answers until the team begins playing games next March (hopefully).

But one person who is excited about the new staff is former Mariners outfielder Braden Bishop, who joined the most recent edition of the "Refuse to Lose Territory" podcast.

"Yeah, no, I'm really excited at everything, honestly. I like Kanzler a lot. I've known him actually for quite a while because my brother actually played for him in Cape Cod in 2018. And at that time, I was in M's organization, so I just got to know him because he's a really, as you could see through all of his interviews, like, he's a very introspective guy. He's very intense. He was a really great hitting mind. And so that kind of sparked our relationship as I was going through the minor leagues. He actually did some stuff with my charity back in the day. So I got nothing but respect for him. And I actually love the hire because I think the more unconventional, the better, especially in today's game."

Bishop spoke much more about why he likes the "unconventional" hire through the rest of the interview, which can be accessed below.

Swanson is well-regarded in catching circles for the work he did with the Yankees over the last seven years, and he's also a guy with local ties. He played at Central Washington, coached in the Washington junior college ranks and was also an assistant coach with the Washington Huskies when Bishop played there.

"And then obviously Swanee coming in. I mean, talk about just, like, inspirational and motivational to go from, I believe he was a pitcher at Central Washington and then when he was at UW he was the volunteer making all his money through camps.

And so my first interactions with him were how committed he was to making anything he did the best. And so from the camps and how we would run those, I mean, he crushed it. Like, Washington baseball camps were really well known in the Seattle area and probably the greater Washington area.

And then, Lindsay Meggs was our head coach. He said, 'Hey, we don't have a catching coach. Can you do catching?' He was a pitcher, so he's like, 'Yeah.' And I've never seen somebody double and triple-down on learning the fundamentals, the basics, but then having enough confidence to take risks and have guys try things...

He was unbelievable. And then obviously, when you take all of that and then you go into professional baseball and then into the big leagues and you don't have the big league experience, to get the respect from the players, I think it just speaks to his character. I think it's an amazing hire on all fronts."

That's certainly a good testimonial from Bishop, and now the M's need to get to work on finding additional coaching staff pieces. Seattle is in the market for a first base coach to replace Eric Young Jr. and an outfield coach, though that could end up being the same person.

Seattle is also likely to hire additional people to the hitting staff, but that's not a guarantee.

The Mariners will be at the GM meetings in Las Vegas until Thursday. Much of day one centered on the team's possible pursuit of former Chicago Cubs outfielder Seiya Suzuki. While it's unclear if anything will happen on this front, the pursuit appears to be real.