The Mariners announced that they have relieved bench coach and offensive coordinator Brant Brown of his duties. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported the news prior to the official Michael Kelly Jersey announcement. Director of hitting strategy Jarret DeHart and a sistant hitting coach will expand their current roles to compensate for Browns absence. Brown, 52, just joined the Seattle staff coming into this year. He had previously served as a hitting coach for the Marlins and Dodgers at the major league level. Prior to holding those gigs, he was with the Mariners as a minor league coordinator. The Ms are having a good season overall, currently sporting a record of 31-27 that has them atop the American League West. However, thats largely due to a strong pitching staff and in spite of some lackluster offense. The team has a collective earned run average of 3.58, ninth-lowest in the majors. But their hitters have collectively slashed .221/.295/.361 for a wRC+ of 94. That indicates theyve been six percent below league average overall, a mark that bests just six other clubs in the league. Over the offseason, president of baseball operations spoke of wanting to lower the clubs strikeout-heavy tendencies, which seemed to play a role in letting players like , , , and depart, either via trade or free agency. This year, the club as a whole is striking out at a 28.3% rate, easily the worst in the majors. The Athletics are second-worst at 26.2%, a significant gap. Thats at least partially attributable to the front office bringing in other players with their own strikeout tendencies, such as , and , but perhaps the ongoing problem with punchouts played a role in the club looking to make a change. Regardle s of the reasoning, its a notable development since its fairly rare for clubs to make midseason staff changes, especially when doing so well overall. Manager Scott Servais will try to guide the club forward without Brown, while DeHart and Joseph step up. DeHart has been a member of the staff since the 2020 season, going from a sistant hitting coach to his current title. Joseph was just hired coming into the current campaign. Jordan Diaz Jersey