Getting to Know Seattle Mariner New Hitting Coach Tim Laker

During the off-season, the Mariners had to hire a new hitting coach as Edgar Martinez  Mariner-legend and Hall-of-Famer decided to step down after being the hitting coach for four years. They decided to hire Tim Laker who was the assistant hitting coach of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

If we go by how the Mariners offense started the season, going 13-2,  we have to say that Laker had done a bang-up job. Now the team is on a losing streak. But how much can he be blamed for the lack of hitting? Only time will tell.

Tim Laker is a former catcher who played in the major leagues for parts of eleven season. His major league career began with the Montreal Expos where he spent four years from 1992 thru 1995.

He then went to the Baltimore Orioles for one season in 1997. In 1998 he spent a season in Tampa Bay. He returned there again in 2005. He played for the Pittsburgh Pirates for two years 1998 and 99. Laker spent two seasons with the Cleveland Indians in 2001 and 02. He finished his career with the Indians in 2006.

He spent two years with Arizona as the assistant hitting coach before coming to Seattle. He spent ten years coaching at different levels including managing the Mariners double-A team in 2010. He coached with the Cleveland Indians and the Chicago White Sox well as the Mariners over those ten years.

The eleven years he played in parts in the major leagues he still mostly played in the minor leagues. There were only three years that he over one hundred at bats. In 1995 with Montreal, 2003 and 04 with the Cleveland Indians.

Laker’s best season was 2003 when he hit .241 in 176 plate appearances. He had only three home runs but did have eleven doubles. His best season in the minor leagues was 1998 where he hit .301 with 22 home runs and drove in 60 runs in triple-A.

Though Laker wasn’t a great hitter over his career he is showing that he can be a good hitting coach at least so far anyway. Since he has only been on the scene for a few months we still have to wait and see.

The important thing is how the team will respond after going through a hitting slump. We hope this doesn’t occur too often, and only a couple of players at a time. We wish you the best Tim Laker along with the rest of the coaching staff. Go M’s.