According to the New York Post, the Mariners have reportedly succeeded in bringing Tanner Swanson over from the Yankees organization to join Jason Kanzler’s coaching staff as bench coach. The 44-year-old Swanson, who has strong ties to the Pacific Northwest, has long been a dream coaching candidate for many of us in the LL community. However, since 2019, he has held a prominent position within the Yankees organization, serving primarily as their catching coordinator, alongside roles as quality control coach and field coordinator. With the bench coach position opening up under new head coach Jason Kanzler, Seattle finally had the opportunity to bring him back home.
Born in Cle Elum, Swanson attended Cle Elum-Roslyn High School and still resides in Roslyn today. His playing career took him through several Northwest colleges, beginning at Green River and Everett Community Colleges before eventually transferring to Central Washington University. Following graduation, he moved into coaching, working with high school programs in Sultan and at several of his former schools, as well as the University of Washington. It was at UW that he discovered his particular passion for developing catchers, eventually establishing his own catching development business, D1 Catching. That experience helped open the door to professional baseball, where he joined the Minnesota Twins in 2017 as a minor league catching coordinator. His first major-league coaching opportunity followed in 2019, when the Yankees brought him aboard as their quality control coordinator and big-league catching coordinator. He remained in the organization until Seattle came calling with the bench coach opportunity.
There are plenty of reasons to be excited about this appointment. During Swanson’s time overseeing the Yankees’ catching department, the team went from relatively average to consistently ranking among the best in catcher framing runs. He worked with Jose Trevino during his first Gold Glove-winning campaign in 2022, when Trevino also topped the league in framing metrics. Swanson has also received recognition for his development work with Austin Wells, a catcher many scouts believed would eventually have to move to another position after college. Wells, however, has finished among the top five catchers in framing runs in each of the past three seasons.
Beyond his work with individual players, Swanson has also been an influential figure in the evolution of catching techniques. He was among the early advocates of the one-knee-down approach, a philosophy that was initially viewed as controversial but has since become commonplace throughout baseball. He began promoting the technique in 2017, during his first season with the Twins, while working with minor-league catcher Ben Rodriguez, whose larger frame made traditional blocking techniques particularly challenging.
Over the past two decades, Swanson has established himself as a highly respected voice in the catching community. Through conference appearances, podcast interviews, and his willingness to share new ideas, he has become something of a thought leader in the field. His return to the Northwest, combined with his track record of developing catchers and influencing the position, makes this a particularly exciting addition to the Mariners’ coaching staff.
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