One week after announcing his retirement, Kristopher Negrón has joined the Seattle Mariners front office as the team’s new assistant to the director of player development. It marks a homecoming of sorts for Negrón, who was with the Mariners before being traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Negrón will assistant Mariners director of player development Andy McKay in all aspects of player development, including on-field instruction and mentoring Minor League players on what it means to be a great teammate.
“I’ve had the unique perspective of watching Kris play in high school, competing against him in junior college, and then having him be part of the Mariner family the past few years,” McKay said.
“During these 15 years, whether it was in high school or the Major Leagues, Kris has earned an unparalleled level of respect from his coaches, teammates, fans and members of the media. We couldn’t be more excited to bring Kris into player development where he will immediately begin to impact our people and our process both on and off the field. This is a great day for the Mariners.”
Negrón appeared in 28 games for the Mariners over the past two seasons, hitting a combined .212/.255/.269 with one home run and four RBI. He began 1029 with Triple-A Tacoma, playing in 82 games.
With the Dodgers in need of depth and versatility because of mounting injuries, they acquired Negrón three days before the July 31 trade deadline in exchange for Minor League infielder Daniel Castro.
Negrón hit an opposite-field home run in his first at-bat with the Dodgers and followed that up with another long ball and multi-hit effort the following day. He began his Dodgers career with a seven-game hitting streak.
The 33-year-old lived up to a reputation of being a versatile defender by spending time at second base, third base, shortstop, left field, center field and right field.
In addition to the Mariners and Dodgers, Negrón also played for the Cincinnati Reds ad Arizona Diamondbacks. He retired after batting .221/.291/.336 with 14 doubles, nine home runs and 32 RBI in 170 games.
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