Seattle Mariners choose another former Houston Astros coach Jason Kanzler as manager over Joe Espada

Houston Astros assistant hitting coach Jason Kanzler during workouts at the Astros spring training complex at The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches on Monday, Feb. 20, 2023 in West Palm Beach. (Karen Warren/Staff photographer) The Seattle Mariners hired a former Houston Astros coach as their next manager, but it's not Joe Espada. The Mariners announced former Astros hitting coach Jason Kanzler as their new manager Tuesday.Multiple outlets had reported that the Mariners, who fired Dan Wilson just a year after he took the team to Game 7 of the American League Championship Series, had narrowed their options to Kanzler and Espada with both former Astros coaches going through a third round of interviews last week."Our goal in this process was finding a manager with the ability to challenge all of us to improve," Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto said in a statement released by the team. "Jason has the mindset, expertise, communication skills and intensity to help create a championship standard here in Seattle."The 36-year-old Kanzler, who was born in Penfield, N.Y., spent three seasons as a minor-league outfielder before retiring as a player and taking a job teaching science at Katy High School in the Houston area. He also was an assistant in the Cape Cod Baseball League before the Astros hired him in 2019 as a hitting coach for their High-A affiliate in Fayetteville, N.C. Kanzler was promoted to the organization's minor-league hitting coordinator in 2021. Dusty Baker added him to the big-league staff as one of the team's three hitting coaches in 2022. After two years in that role, Kanzler was hired by the Chicago Cubs as their director of player development."I am thrilled to join the Mariners organization and I'm looking forward to hitting the ground running," Kanzler said. "This team has an immense amount of talent in all facets of the game, and my coaching staff and I are excited to access and unlock this team's full potential."Kanzler and Espada worked together in Houston and Kanzler was announced as a returning member of the staff when Espada was promoted to manager before the 2024 season, but Kanzler was hired away by the Cubs before the season started.The 51-year-old Espada lasted three seasons as manager in Houston, going 256-229 in his first time in the role. Espada took over for Baker following the 2023 season in which the team came one win shy of making another World Series. Under Espada, the Astros made the playoffs in two of his three seasons, but were swept out of the wild-card round both times.In Espada's six seasons as Astros bench coach under A.J. Hinch and then Baker, he was part of teams that reached three World Series and won one.SubscribeThere’s more to Houston with the Chronicle. Subscribe today for just 25¢.This article originally published at Seattle Mariners choose another former Houston Astros coach Jason Kanzler as manager over Joe Espada.