Marrero fulfills MLB dream as coach
Career minor leaguer is Pirates hitting assistant
Christian Marrero’s rise to a Major League Baseball coach was a bit quicker than he anticipated.
The 34-year-old was hired last week to become the Pirates new assistant hitting coach. It comes after just three years of experience in the Philadelphia Phillies minor league system, where he began in 2018 after a 12year playing career in the systems of multiple teams.
Marrero actually interviewed with the Pirates last season, he said Wednesday, and although he was turned down for the job at that time, the Pirates interviewed him again this offseason and was told he was high on their list of candidates both then and now.
And this time around, he has been hired.
“I think right now that they’re trying to get some really good people in the organization, trying to change the culture a little bit,” Marrero said. “And one thing they told me is they want somebody that can help translate the information to the players in a way that makes it easy for them to understand and that’s — being young — I also relate with the guys. And like I said, I’m just very excited to be here, and I’m grateful for this opportunity.”
Marrero’s 12 years in the minors were played within four different organizations, including 13 games with the Pirates Class AAA and Class AA teams in 2012. His main memory of that short stint, he says, was that he loved the ballpark in Class AAA Indianapolis and was impressed by the team’s talent. Looking back, it was a roster that included outfielder Starling Marte and second baseman Jordy Mercer, among others, so that makes sense.
Really, though, it seems the main thing Marrero has taken out of his playing career is the importance of those relationships. For all of that time, Marrero was grinding, trying to improve his own game incrementally in hopes of making it to the majors. He was never able to crack that barrier himself, but he feels that he can help the players he’s coaching now understand all the information that’s available to them.
“I’ve been in these guys’ situation before. I know baseball is not easy,” Marrero said. “Some of these guys forget how difficult this game really is. Like I said, I think I have the ability to help them understand the information now. You guys know there’s so much information out there that I think can help them apply to the game and make them better.”
It may help that Marrero says he knew Pirates hitting coach Rick Eckstein from before he was hired. Even if he didn’t, he says manager Derek Shelton and Eckstein already have done a good job of making him feel comfortable, which is important. Marrero understands that his role isn’t to decide largescale hitting philosophies or completely retool guys’ swings.
He wants to fit in with what Eckstein and Shelton are trying to institute with the Pirates offensively and help relay that to the players. And it’s an important task right now. The Pirates finished 2020 with the fewest runs scored in MLB and the third-lowest batting average. Important players, such as outfielders Bryan Reynolds and Gregory Polanco and infielders Kevin Newman and Adam Frazier, need to have bounce-back seasons.
Plus, the likes of third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes and any other Pirates prospects who could see playing time this season will need to continue to develop for the future.
At the same time, Marrero knows one size doesn’t fit all for hitting instruction, and the first step to effective coaching is building trust to ensure teaching points are well taken by the players.
“I just think you’ve got to be yourself,” Marrero said. “Show up, day in and day out, same guy and show them that you care and you’re there to work. Just the communication is big. You have to be in constant communication with these guys at all times, making sure we’re on the same page.”
Marrero’s big hope now is simply that spring training starts on time, without a hitch. He’s been crunching video on his new players and going over their strengths and weaknesses to get familiar, and the sooner he gets to implement that, the better.
And on a larger scale, that’s what he’s wanted to do since he hung up the cleats after 2017. Marrero says he fell in love with coaching as soon as he made the transition to it with the Phillies.
Since then, it’s been a bit faster of a rise than anyone could have anticipated, but Marrero is now getting his first crack in MLB.
“I love this game,” Marrero said. “This is something, my whole family — I’ve got brothers and cousins that have been in the game. This is something we’ve done our whole life, and I felt like if I stayed in the game, this opportunity would come at some point in my career, and it came quicker than I expected.”