Blue Jays fire longtime hitting coach Guillermo Martinez
The Toronto Blue Jays are starting out the offseason with a bang — and the departure of Guillermo Martinez.
Today, the Blue Jays made the decision to fire longtime hitting coach Martinez, as per multiple reports.
TSN’s Scott Mitchell had the initial report of the story, which was later confirmed by Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi.
Per sources, Guillermo Martinez is out as #BlueJays hitting coach after 6 seasons.
The club finished 23rd in baseball in runs scored this year.
— Scott Mitchell (@ScottyMitchTSN) September 30, 2024
Martinez had served in the role since 2019, having been in the Jays organization in various minor league roles since 2012.
The move comes a little more than 24 hours after the conclusion of a disappointing season for the franchise. While the Jays began the year with possible World Series aspirations, it became obvious quite early into the season that would probably not be the case.
The Jays finished 23rd in baseball with 671 runs scored across their 162 games, while finishing last place in the American League East with a 74-88 record.
Martinez, along with fellow offensive coaches Don Mattingly, Hunter Mense and Matt Hague, were the target of much criticism over the team’s rough performance at the plate this season.
With the MLB postseason set to begin tomorrow, the Jays will be on the outside looking in for the first time since 2021 after making the playoffs in each of the last two seasons.
While the departure of one coach won’t necessarily fix all of the Jays issues, it could be the first domino to fall ahead of a high-pressure offseason. We’ll keep an eye out over the coming weeks and months to see what the rest of the Blue Jays’ offseason looks like.
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