SEATTLE, Wash. – Seattle Mariners Director of Player Development Andy McKay announced today that the team has hired Kristopher Negrón (nay-GROWN) as the club’s new Assistant to Director of Player Development. In his new role, Negrón will assist McKay in all aspects of player development, including on-field instruction and mentoring minor league players on what it means to be a great teammate.

“I’ve had the unique perspective of watching Kris play in high school, competing against him in junior college, and then having him be part of the Mariner family the past few years,” said McKay. “During these 15 years, whether it was in high school or the Major Leagues, Kris has earned an unparalleled level of respect from his coaches, teammates, fans and members of the media.

“We couldn’t be more excited to bring Kris into player development where he will immediately begin to impact our people and our process both on and off the field. This is a great day for the Mariners.”

Negrón, 33, is a six-year Major League veteran, playing most recently for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2019. He announced his retirement from professional baseball via Twitter on November 12. He spent parts of two seasons with the Mariners in 2018 and 2019, batting a combined .212 (11x52), with 1 home run, 4 RBI and a .524 OPS over 28 games. He began 2019 with Triple-A Tacoma, where he played in 82 games, before being recalled to Seattle for 10 games in July. He was traded to Los Angeles-NL on July 29 for minor league infielder Daniel Castro, where he finished the season. For his career, Negrón played in 170 games over 6 seasons with Cincinnati (2012, 2014-15), Arizona (2017), Seattle (2018-19) and Los Angeles-NL (2019), batting .221 (83x375) with 14 doubles, 1 triple, 9 home runs, 32 RBI and a .627 OPS, while also recording a lifetime .986 fielding percentage (5 errors in 348 chances), playing every defensive position other than pitcher and catcher.

Negrón was born in Willingboro, New Jersey, but eventually graduated from Vanden High School in Fairfield, California. He attended Cosumnes River College (CA), and was named the California Community College Baseball Conference MVP in 2006. Following the season, he was drafted in the 7th round (223rd overall) of the 2006 First-Year Player Draft by the Boston Red Sox.

After spending three years in the Red Sox minor league system, Negrón was traded to the Cincinnati Reds for infielder Álex González in August 2009, and went on to make his big league debut on June 7, 2012 vs. Pittsburgh. He spent parts of three seasons at the Major League level with Cincinnati before playing all of 2016 with Chicago-NL’s Triple-A affiliate, and then signing with Arizona prior to the 2017 season. After playing in 120 games with Triple-A Reno, he had his contract selected to Arizona’s Major League roster in September 2017, and was put on the playoff roster for the Wild Card Game vs. Colorado and NLDS vs. Los Angeles-NL, but did not play.

Negrón spent most of 2018 in Reno before being acquired by the Mariners for cash considerations on August 30.