A&M hires Mariners pitching coordinator Max Weiner as pitching coach

Big-time hire from the Big Leagues.

Texas A&M’s Jim Schlossnagle has just made a splash hire in the baseball world by welcoming Max Weiner to his staff to be the Aggies’ new pitching coach.

Weiner, 28, was most recently the pitching coordinator of the Seattle Mariners and is considered by many to be one of the brightest young minds in the game.

The hire comes after Nate Yeskie departed Aggieland to join Jay Johnson’s staff at LSU.

A former collegiate pitcher, Weiner was named to the Forbes “30 Under 30” list for sports in 2023. Beyond that, The Athletic included Weiner among its “35 under 35” series in 2019, detailing the “young behind-the-scenes talent shaping baseball.”

A native of Miami, Weiner played junior college baseball at Lake Sumter State College for two years before transferring to Florida International ahead of the 2017 season.

At 19, Weiner founded The Arm Farm, which has helped numerous youth and amateur pitchers develop their abilities through its pitching curriculum and resources. Three years later, he became a minor league pitching coach in the Cleveland Guardians organization at just 22 before Seattle brought him aboard in December 2018. In three years, Weiner helped the Mariners’ farm system climb from worst to first in all of baseball.

Neville E. Guard-USA TODAY Sports

A&M’s Friday night starter in 2021, Miller found himself in The Show after just 22 months in Seattle’s farm system.

Currently, Seattle’s rotation features three young starting pitchers, all of whom have worked with Weiner. The organization holds that trio of Logan Gilbert, George Kirby and Bryce Miller — a fourth-round selection (113th overall) in 2021 out of Texas A&M — to be prized examples of its draft-and-develop system.

Specifically of the Aggie, Weiner told The Seattle Times he was “Giddy” during Miller’s MLB debut on May 2, 2023, in which he carried a perfect game into the sixth inning. A success story of Weiner’s tutelage, the 24-year-old Miller holds a 5-3 record with a 3.97 ERA and 55 strikeouts through his first 11 big league starts.

At Texas A&M, Weiner will be tasked with turning around a once-proud pitching tradition that has scuffled recently. In 2023, the Aggie staff possessed a bloated 6.67 ERA and walked a program-worst 320 batters. A&M’s staff ERA has not dipped below 4.50 in three consecutive seasons, but from 2015-2020, the Aggies spent six straight years under 3.50.

No doubt, those at Blue Bell Park hope to see a return to pitching dominance as Schlossnagle & Co. build toward being a mainstay in Omaha.

Ryan Brauninger’s Thoughts on Max Weiner

“I really like this hire a lot. Weiner comes to College Station with a hugely popular reputation in the baseball world for being one of the top young pitching minds in the game. This is going to make some waves across the collegiate and professional landscape. Weiner has been at the cutting edge of this ‘new age’ of pitching, which is centered around blending the wave of the latest technology available with a personal feel. He’ll have to cut his teeth as a recruiter in the toughest league in college baseball, but even at the ripe age of 28, the cache he’s already built will get the attention of a lot of players, parents and coaches.”