SEATTLE -- As the Mariners press through the decision-making phase of hiring their new manager, they have already landed the hitting coach that will join the selected candidate’s Major League staff.
CJ Gillman, who was Seattle’s Minor League hitting coordinator from 2022-25, will take over as the club’s Major League hitting coach in 2027, multiple sources told MLB.com on Friday.
The club has not confirmed the hire, which was first reported by The Athletic.
Gillman, 37, left the Mariners in 2026 to become the director of hitting for the Nationals, who blossomed from one of the sport’s least effective offenses to one of its most productive. Washington was one of the sport’s surprise teams last season, in large part for how it swung the bat so well.
That, and more so, Gillman’s familiarity with so many of the Mariners’ young hitting core, were the likely driving factors to this hire.
Gillman was a guiding influence for many top prospects who’ve recently reached the Majors in Seattle, including infielder/outfielder Michael Arroyo, shortstop Colt Emerson, outfielder Lazaro Montes and second baseman Cole Young.
He also occasionally spent time in Seattle with the big league team during his previous tenure as a supplement to the coaching staff, most prominently after director of hitting strategy Jarret DeHart was fired in August 2024.
Moreover, Gillman could represent a philosophical shift in addition to being a familiar face.
“Multiple of our Major League players who came through our system have referenced what they learned in player development that got abandoned in the big leagues this year,” Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto said in an end-of-season press conference.
“And not just the players who came up for the first time. We have a host of players who've come through our system, and they saw a difference. We need to get back to what we believe is a Mariners baseball process.”
Gillman, the Mariners’ new manager and the impending assistants to supplement the hitting side will be tasked with extracting more from an offense that saw a significant decline in just one season.
Mariners offense, 2026
BA: .233 (29th)
OBP: .314 (21st)
SLG: .379 (28th)
OPS: .693 (27th)
Runs/game: 4.10 (28th)
wRC+: 102 (10th)
K rate: 23.0% (24th)
The Nationals, meanwhile, ranked third in MLB in runs per game (5.07) and tied for third in OPS (.743).
Gillman is the first coach that the club has hired this offseason, in the aftermath of the leadership shakeup that saw Dan Wilson’s tenure as manager conclude along with four coaches from Wilson’s staff.
Among the exiting group from 2026 was hitting coach Kevin Seitzer, who was in his second season. His departure followed assistant hitting coach Bobby Magallanes, who was let go on July 23. The Mariners retained all of their coaches on the pitching side.
The club is still expected to hire at least three more coaches, and Dipoto suggested in an end-of-season press conference that the new manager would have a say in that process.
Edgar Martinez, the club’s director of hitting strategy since 2024, will return in some capacity, Dipoto said at season’s end.
“I don't know that he's going to be in the dugout for 162 games,” Dipoto said of Martinez. “I am certain that he's going to be part of what we do from a baseball operation standpoint and organizationally.”