Former Mariners right-hander Hisahi Iwakuma is rejoining the franchise in a new position. The Mariners announced Tuesday that they have hired Iwakuma as a special assignment coach. He’ll report to general manager Jerry Dipoto.
“In his new role, Iwakuma will work with Mariners pitchers and pitching instructors at all levels,” the team explained. “He will periodically visit the team’s minor league affiliates during the season, as well as spending time with the Major League team.” Additionally, Iwakuma will assist Mariners scout Manabu Noto in his homeland of Japan.
Based on his decorated playing career in Japan and in Seattle, the well-respected Iwakuma should have plenty to offer as a coach. Now 39 years old, Iwakuma excelled in Japan for over a decade before joining the Mariners in 2012. The union worked out beautifully for both sides, as Iwakuma wound up pitching his entire major league run with the M’s (through 2017). He recorded a 3.42 ERA in 883 2/3 innings, earned an All-Star nod and threw a no-hitter along the way.
While Iwakuma did continue trying to pitch after 2017, injuries hampered his efforts. He threw just two innings in a return to Japan in 2019 and didn’t take the mound at all last year. Iwakuma then decided to retire.
Great move, he had some magnificent seasons with the M’s. He could teach those young pitchers a thing or two.
No marbles!
No huevos?
Hisashi is misspelled
in the intro sentence
Just curious why you guys don’t link retired players baseball reference pages?
I was wondering the same thing. wanted to look back at his stats but had to go another article and click on a different player then search for him. Obviously it’s not the end of the world lol but was wondering the same thing as it’s happened to me multiple times :-)
Man it would be great if he could also give us a few innings this year
Iwakuma was quietly one of the better pitchers in baseball for the years he was on the mariners. Maybe it was because the Mariners weren’t all that great for most of time he was playing for them or because they never really had much of a postseason run… but he flew under the radar for the most part all while putting up some very impressive numbers. I wish him the best in this new chapter of his baseball life.
He was underappreciated because the crown was already on Felix. The Mariners would have been a better team had they never crowned one man.
Even when Iwakuma was one of the best in the league, and definitely the best on the Mariners, Felix was always #1.
So Felix wasn’t the best on the Mariners? Lol ok. Maybe his last two 2 1/2 years but trying to say anyone was better than him during most of his time here is crazy and just flat out wrong. Hisashi was great but not better than Felix. He had one elite year surround by good years. Felix had like 8 elite seasons
This makes me feel OLD!
“Former Mariners right-hander Hisahi Iwakuma”.
Hisashi.
Nice. Even though the M’s were pretty brutal during his tenure, he was a staple in that rotation for an entire era of the team. Great to see he’ll still be around in Navy & Teal.
This move is absolutely huge for the Mariners scouting department. This not only helps them stateside but helps them in Japan. Hisashi could be pivotal in acquiring players from Japan and possibly Korea.
It will definitely help them sign Japanese players. Probably won’t matter much to Korean players. He’s Japanese. Not Korean. Two countries with completely different cultures and ways of life. Highly doubt a Korean player will care about Hisashi either way
Good move by the Mariners. Best to him in new role.
Tanaka time in Seattle?
The collection of former Mariners returning to work with the team in some fashion is a long one. That’s telling of where Jerry has the organization. Players and personnel used to run the first chance they had. Not the case anymore.
Now, back to the offseason shopping….
And it’ll continue with Dan Wilson or Raul Ibanez as head coach at some point.
He could help Kikuchi. It’s not a bad experiment. If it works he could stay on to help other pickups. We’ll know after the fist half of the season.