SEATTLE -- The Mariners formally announced their full coaching staff for the Major League team for 2026 on Friday, headlined by the additions of bullpen coach Austin Nola, third-base coach Carlos Cardoza and field coordinator Jake McKinley.
The rest of the group from manager Dan Wilson’s staff remains intact from last season.
Here’s the full staff:
- Manny Acta, bench coach
- Edgar Martinez, senior director of hitting strategy
- Kevin Seitzer, hitting coach
- Bobby Magallanes, assistant hitting coach
- Eric Young Jr., first base coach
- Trent Blank, director of pitching strategy
- Pete Woodworth, pitching coach
- Danny Farquhar, assistant pitching coach and pitching strategy
- Carlos Cardoza, third-base coach (new)
- Jake McKinley, Major League field coordinator (new)
- Austin Nola, bullpen coach (new)
“I am excited to welcome Austin, Carlos and Jake to our coaching staff,” Wilson said in a statement. “They bring decades of baseball knowledge to an already outstanding group of coaches. I am thrilled with our staff and believe they will continue to do an outstanding job of helping our players prepare each day.”
Nola is the most notable addition, given that he’s a name fans might recognize, having been on the team from 2019-20 as a key piece during the Mariners' rebuild. A Minor League journeyman up to that point, the 35-year-old revitalized his career in Seattle after playing seven seasons exclusively in the Minors. And he proved instrumental among that year’s incredibly young group of players that the front office was vetting for the long term.
And Nola wound up also being a key piece to one of Seattle’s more impactful trades of that era, when headlining the deal with the Padres that brought back Andrés Muñoz, Ty France, Luis Torrens and Taylor Trammell at the 2020 Trade Deadline. Nola takes over for Tony Arnerich, who left the organization for a promotion to bench coach of the Guardians last month. This will be Nola’s first season as a Major League coach after parts of 13 seasons as a player in pro baseball.
That’s also true of McKinley, who has spent 20 seasons in coaching and player development, including the past three as the head coach at the University of Nevada, where he was named the 2025 Mountain West Coach of the Year after leading the Wolf Pack to the Mountain West regular season championship.
Prior to Nevada, McKinley spent time in the Milwaukee Brewers' organization in player development, finishing his tenure with the Brewers as vice president of player development in 2021. He was also the head coach at Menlo College (2014-17) and William Jessup (2018). McKinley takes over for Louis Boyd, who spent one season in the role after taking over for Carson Vitale.
Cardoza is also a first-timer on a big league staff, having spent the past nine years as a pro coach on the Minors side with the Rangers, including the past three as manager of their Double-A Affiliate. He managed the team to an 84-54 record in 2024, their best regular-season winning percentage in Frisco franchise history, and was named the organization’s 2024 Bobby Jones Player Development Man of the Year following the season. Cardoza was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and played college baseball at Georgia State University and Armstrong State University before beginning his coaching career.
For more on the returning coaches, click here.
“Our success on the field in 2025 and our collective growth as a team is attributable to having quality people across the organization,” Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto said in a statement. “We feel that the additions we are making to the MLB staff this season are as exciting as any we have made over the years. Austin, Carlos, and Jake bring leadership, people skills, baseball acumen and unique experiences. We look forward to the many ways they will challenge all of us to get better in 2026.”