Mariner's Hall of Famer Edgar Martinez on Coaching and Time with Seattle

·52 min·5 clips

Hall of Famer Edgar Martinez got laughed at by players for taking a selfie during his first game back as a coach.

Bret Boone hosts his longtime friend and former teammate Edgar Martinez on The Bret Boone Podcast. Martinez, a Hall of Famer and Mariners hitting coach, recounts his return to baseball in a coaching role, starting with a funny anecdote about taking a selfie during his first game back in Boston, not realizing cell phones were prohibited in the dugout. He describes the intense workload and preparation involved in coaching, contrasting it with his playing days. Boone compares the emotional experience of coaching to watching children grow up, feeling heartbreak when players fail and pride when they succeed. The discussion shifts to technological advancements in baseball, with Martinez expressing envy over modern tools like iPads that allow hitters to study every pitch from opposing pitchers and trajectory machines that simulate live pitching. They explore hitting philosophies, emphasizing a middle-of-the-field approach and the importance of simplifying mechanics to compete daily. Boone and Martinez analyze differences in ballparks, noting how T-Mobile Park plays with the roof closed versus Texas Rangers' stadium. A significant portion debates the potential move to an automated strike zone, with Boone acknowledging the technology's precision but lamenting the loss of the human element, while Martinez prefers a challenge system tested in spring training. The conversation concludes with an assessment of the 2024 Seattle Mariners, highlighting Cal Raleigh's record-breaking 60 home runs as a catcher, the team's deep lineup, and their playoff series against the Toronto Blue Jays, where they fell just eight outs short of the World Series. Martinez reflects on the team's chemistry and the difficulty of winning a championship.

As heard by us

A grounded hitting discussion about simple preparation that can survive baseball's daily grind.

Coaching comes through as a daily discipline here, built around getting a hitter ready for seven o'clock rather than polishing mechanics for their own sake.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

Want a baseball approach that gets you through 162 games by knowing what swing you actually have tonight?

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from The Bret Boone Podcast