"What We Allow is What We Stand For": M's Jason Kanzler Promises Clarity, Accountability, Modernity

"I would like to ride the lightning for this team and this city."

I don't know if that's only a turn of phrase or if Jason Kanzler also holds the objectively correct view of Metallica's best album.

But the combination of wit, clarity, and intelligence with a dash of Millennial awkwardness was evident throughout Kanzler's first press conference with Mariners media. Kanzler, the team's new hire at manager going into 2027, faces plenty of skepticism as Seattle's third first-time manager in a row.

Kanzler would alternate beats between elucidating a game plan for effective communication and referring to the Houston Astros as if they were Voldemort (a practice that instantly spread to everyone else in the room). But aside from uneasily laughing at one of his jokes - not the worst gimmick a comic ever had - Kanzler maintained enough charisma and command of the room to leave an overall positive impression.

But there still remained the specter of an apparent about-face (or almost about-face) from the Mariners brass. After the end of the season, Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto had said that experience was "preferred", and though this of course left the door open for a first-time skipper like Kanzler, the immediate thought around baseball seems to have been that the M's would indeed go for a guy with MLB managerial tenure. According to Dipoto, however, the cross-pressure wasn't too difficult to resolve when considering everything else in Kanzler's toolkit.

"Experience is good. In this case, we didn't think it was good enough to to dissuade us from all of the traits that Jason brings to the table," Dipoto said. "He checked almost every box that you could check in terms of. Career experiences, the the uniqueness of his developmental path, I think, is going to go a long way with modern players. The way he communicates, as you see here today, or or you will in the time moving forward, it's very clear. You won't be confused as to what the directive is when you when you leave the station, and I think our players will pick up on that."

The new manager was aware that his path was unorthodox. After failing to break into the big leagues in the mid-2010s, he became a high school chemistry and physics teacher and then joined the Astros organization in 2019 on the minor league hitting side. He remained on the hitting side throughout his tenure with Houston - on both sides of the major-minor league divide as he got promoted in 2022 - before becoming the director of the Chicago Cubs farm system in 2024.

With most of his experience on the hitting side of the ball, Kanzler fielded plenty of questions about the way he's going to approach the team's lackluster offense come 2027. Will they be a power-hitting bash-house? Will they be a small-ball squad? Will they be pitching-first? Kanzler isn't sure yet.