Under-the-radar Mariners coaching candidates from MLB (NL Central)

Back with the series literally no one has asked for, no one apparently wants, and yet I am compelled to do. If you missed the first installment, you can catch up with the method behind the madness Under-the-radar Mariners coaching candidates from MLB, as well as the first batch of coaching staff candidates from the AL Central.

Today we’ll cover the NL East, since teams from the AL East and NL Central are currently in the World Series, and I’m putting off the Western divisions (mostly because that will be one giant article since I’m skipping essentially the whole AL West).

Again, if you haven’t already read the first installment in this series and yet are the kind of Sicko to read this one, I really suggest reading that first. Commenter rumdoodle described this series as “here’s what you could have won!” and that is…not an incorrect assessment of this enterprise, but also a) it’s good context to understand the broader coaching landscape the Mariners are hiring out of, for a variety of roles; b) some of these people might become Main Characters in baseball somewhere down the road, and won’t you feel so clever already knowing who Nic Wilson is (that’s what we call A Tease in the biz).

Anthony Contreras (Phillies)

Current role: Third base coach (MLB) – technically

Age: 43

Bonus points: West coast ties (from Los Gatos; attended San Jose State)

Contreras has been managing for almost a decade, jumping from the Padres organization to the Phillies, who gave him an opportunity to manage at the Triple-A level in 2022, a job he held before being promoted to the big-league staff in 2026. Contreras, the winningest manager of the IronPigs of all time, is well-respected by the players he’s managed, but his current role is somewhat up in the air after the Phillies hired Carlos Mendoza, a name once linked to the Mariners coaching search, to be their third-base coach. Come to us, AC! West coast, best coast!

Relevant quote: “What he brings to the table, how of a person he is on and off the field, he’s one of the best. Of the coaches I’ve been with, he’s one of one.” – Orion Kerkering on Contreras

Tucker Frawley (Mets)

Current role: “Director of defense, baserunning, and gameplay” for the Mets

Age: 37

Bonus points: Chatterbox

Remember how I said at the outset of this whole thing that I heavily weighted being involved with ABCA and being actively involved in the art of coaching and professional development and sharing knowledge and whatnot? Crawley, a longtime Yale assistant coach, is all about that life. This man has IDEAS, specifically about infield defense, and he is not afraid to tell you about them.

Relevant quote: “From an infield standpoint, I want us to chase aesthetics less, and efficiency more, and I often equate things to hitting, where there are just some hitters who have a knack of consistently finding the barrel and hitting the ball hard, and when they’re able to do that, there’s usually some freedom that the hitting coaches give them.”

Matt Tuiasosopo (formerly of the Braves)

Current role: free agent; former minor league infield coordinator

Age: 40

Bonus points: Born in Bellevue; deep roots in PNW sports culture; drafted by Mariners and played at both minor and major-league levels

Okay I’m technically cheating on this one, but hear me out. The Tuiasosopo name is a well-known one in PNW sports, but for whatever reason, the Mariners didn’t bring him home as a coach after his playing career officially ended in 2018; instead, Tuiasosopo immediately transitioned to coaching in the Braves system, the last MLB organization he’d been with, in 2019. By 2024, he had worked his way up to third base coach, replacing the legendary Ron Washington, but was demoted from that position by June of 2025 and reassigned to minor-league infield coordinator; his LinkedIn indicates he’s now working for an energy tech company in Atlanta.

Relevant quote: “I think if you’re a coach, you’re a servant. It’s all about the players. You have a servant attitude. It’s not about us as coaches anymore, it’s about giving these players love and instruction. Sometimes you gotta be hard on ’em, sometimes you gotta lift ’em up and build ’em up. I always believe that you build up and not tear down. And I think that if you serve these guys and love on ’em and build that trust, build that relationship, you can do a lot of great things. It’s something that I believe in, just in life in general and not just here at the field – serving people around you and thinking about others and not yourself, and I just try to live that.”

Nelson Prada (Marlins)

Current role: Manager, Double-A Pensacola Blue Wahoos

Age: 50

Bonus points: bilingual

Prada has a long history of managing, both stateside (where he’s been a long-tenured manager in the Marlins system) and globally (he’s worked with the Cardenales de Lara, who are like the Venezuelan baseball equivalent of the Yankees, and has served as Team Spain’s WBC coach); he’s also coached in the AFL and is Driveline certified for hitting. He’s currently the reigning Southern League Manager of the Year after leading Pensacola to a league-best 79-58 record that was also the third-best winning percentage in franchise history. Prada, whose bright playing career was cut short by a freak eye injury that blocks his vision to this day, has a unique perspective on the adversities players can face and how to be their advocate.

Relevant quote: “If you care about players, you have a group that is going to fight for you. I want the players to know that I care about them, and I really do care. I’m not being two-faced. Everywhere I go, I want players to feel like everybody’s a part of the team.”

Shawn O’Malley (Nationals)

Current role: Assistant hitting coach

Age: 38

Bonus points: IT’S SHAWN O’MALLEY

In case the name Shawn O’Malley doesn’t spark the same joy for you as it does for Mariners fans of a certain age, or the lead image for this story didn’t trigger something for you, O’Malley was part of the cursed Dipoto-transition-era Mariners but became a fan favorite because of his local ties, gritty play, and role in big moments like this catch in the stands or his role in the biggest comeback in club history against the Padres in the 2016 season. O’Malley went on to coach in the Mariners organization for a while at the minor-league level before going to join Blake Butera in a revamped Nationals staff. Real talk, I don’t really think any of the newly-hired Nats coaching staff is going anywhere after outperforming expectations in 2026 and was going to leave them off entirely; I just wanted to give O’Malley some shine.

Relevant quote: “HE GOT IT!”