Former Seattle Mariners All-Star Retires, Gets New Job with National League Organization
According to Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, former Seattle Mariners All-Star Daniel Vogelbach has taken a job with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
In other news, Daniel Vogelbach is here at Pirate City. He has been hired by the organization as a special assistant to the hitting department.
Vogelback is just 32 years old, but he’s apparently hung up his spikes. A nine-year veteran of the Mariners, Toronto Blue Jays, Milwaukee Brewers, Pirates and New York Mets, he hit 81 career home runs. With the M’s, he spent parts of five seasons, earning an All-Star selection in 2019. That season, he hit 30 homers and drove in 76 runs. Never much of an average guy, Vogelbach hit just .219 lifetime. He was only a .196 hitter in Seattle and the M’s jettisoned him after just 18 games in the COVID-shortened 2020 season.
He hit 18 homers in 2022 and hit 13 more in 2023, but he slumped to a .186 average in 2024 with the Blue Jays over just 31 games.
Though “Vogey” has moved on from playing, his time in Seattle will be remembered fondly. His 30-homer season came in the midst of that painful 2019 campaign that saw the M’s played with a gutted roster. The team had traded away Jean Segura, Robinson Cano and James Paxton in the preceding offseason, beginning what would turn into a multi-year rebuild.
The Mariners report to spring training on Wednesday and will play the Pirates later this season, with a series in Seattle set for July 4-6.
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