Anthony John Arnerich (born December 14, 1979) is an American baseball bullpen coach for the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. The team joined the American ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

. He is a former

minor league baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catc ...

. A California native, Arnerich attended college in Texas. After his junior year, he signed with the Kansas City Royals and played for minor league baseball teams in Iowa, Delaware, and Kansas from 2001 to 2004. Arnerich then joined the Florida Marlins and played minor league in North Carolina and Florida in 2004 and 2005. Returning to California, Arnerich began coaching college teams in 2006 and earned a bachelor's degree in 2008. He coached a collegiate summer team in Minnesota from 2007 to 2009. Arnerich joined the Mariners in 2014, and was named a hitting coach in 2022. In 2024, he became the team's bullpen coach, replacing

Stephen Vogt Stephen Guy Vogt ( ; born November 1, 1984) is an American professional baseball Manager (baseball), manager and former catcher and Coach (baseball), coach who currently serves as the manager for the Cleveland Guardians of Major League Basebal ...

Early education and minor league play

Arnerich graduated from Montgomery High School in

Santa Rosa, California Santa Rosa (Spanish language, Spanish for "Rose of Lima, Saint Rose") is a city in and the county seat of Sonoma County, California, Sonoma County, in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay A ...

, in 1998. He attended

Santa Rosa Junior College Santa Rosa Junior College (SRJC) is a public community college in Santa Rosa, California with an additional campus in Petaluma and centers in surrounding Sonoma County. SRJC is governed by the Sonoma County Junior College District. History F ...

for two years and then transferred to

Texas Tech University Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public university, public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the flagship instit ...

to play

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

for the

Texas Tech Red Raiders The Texas Tech Red Raiders and Lady Raiders are the athletic teams that represent Texas Tech University, located in Lubbock, Texas, United States. The women's basketball team uses the name Lady Raiders, while the school's other women's teams us ...

. After his junior season, he signed a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

contract with the

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team ...

organization. In 2001 and 2002, Arnerich played for the Burlington Bees. In 2002 and 2003, he was with the

Wilmington Blue Rocks The Wilmington Blue Rocks are a Minor League Baseball team of the South Atlantic League and the High-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. They are located in Wilmington, Delaware, and play their home games at Daniel S. Frawley Stadium. Fra ...

, and in 2003 and 2004 it was the

Wichita Wranglers The Wichita Wranglers were a minor league baseball team based in Wichita, Kansas. The team, which played in the Texas League, was the Double-A affiliate of Major League Baseball's San Diego Padres from 1987 to 1994 and the Kansas City Royals fro ...

. He played in the

Florida Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. The team plays its home games at LoanDepot Park. The ...

organization before retiring as a player, with the

Carolina Mudcats The Carolina Mudcats are a Minor League Baseball team of the Carolina League and the Single-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. They are located in Zebulon, North Carolina, a suburb of Raleigh, North Carolina, Raleigh, and play their home games ...

and Greensboro Bats in 2004, and the

Jupiter Hammerheads The Jupiter Hammerheads are a Minor League Baseball team of the Florida State League and the Single-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins. They are located in the town of Jupiter in Palm Beach County, Florida, and play their home games at Roger Dean ...

in 2004 and 2005. Arnerich ended his minor league career with a .231

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

, 8

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run ...

, and three

stolen bases In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base unaided by other actions and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or out a ...

in 234 games. He also pitched in four games for the Hammerheads in 2004, posting a 0.82

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

in 11

innings pitched In baseball, the statistic innings pitched (IP) is the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of Batter (baseball), batters and baserunners that have been put out while the pitcher is on the Baseball field#Pitcher's mou ...

Coaching and degree

Arnerich became an assistant coach in 2006 at

Sonoma State University Sonoma State University (SSU, Sonoma State, or Sonoma) is a public university in Sonoma County, California, United States. It is part of the California State University system. Sonoma State offers 92 bachelor's degree programs, 19 master's de ...

, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in

Sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...

in 2008. He coached for the

St. Cloud River Bats The St. Cloud Rox are a baseball team that play in the Northwoods League, a Collegiate summer baseball, collegiate summer baseball league. Their home games are played at the Joe Faber Field in St. Cloud, Minnesota. Beginnings in Dubuque The franc ...

summer team from 2007 to 2009, and the

California Golden Bears The California Golden Bears are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Berkeley. Referred to in athletic competition as ''California'' or ''Cal'', the university fields 30 varsity athletic programs and various club te ...

from 2007 to 2014, during which the team went to the

College World Series The College World Series (CWS), officially the NCAA Men's College World Series (MCWS), is a baseball tournament held each June in Omaha, Nebraska. It is the culmination of the NCAA Division I baseball tournament—featuring 64 teams in the ...

in 2011. In 2014, he joined the

organization, as a hitting and catching coordinator beginning in 2017. The Mariners promoted Arnerich to minor league field coordinator in 2020, major league

hitting coach In baseball, a number of coaches assist in the smooth functioning of a team. They are assistants to the manager, who determines the starting lineup and batting order, decides how to substitute players during the game, and makes strategy decisi ...

for the 2022 season, and bullpen coach in 2024.

Personal life

Arnerich has

coarctation of the aorta Coarctation of the aorta (CoA) is a congenital condition whereby the aorta is narrow, usually in the area where the ductus arteriosus ( ligamentum arteriosum after regression) inserts. The word ''coarctation'' means "pressing or drawing toget ...

, a narrowing of the artery from the heart. He received a mechanical valve in 2012, but developed a

staph infection A staphylococcal infection or staph infection is an infection caused by members of the ''Staphylococcus'' genus of bacteria. These bacteria commonly inhabit the skin and nose where they are innocuous, but may enter the body through cuts or abrasi ...

near the device in 2013. In October 2013, his doctors said a second surgery to replace the valve was necessary, with only a 50/50 chance of his surviving it. A later

CT scan A computed tomography scan (CT scan), formerly called computed axial tomography scan (CAT scan), is a medical imaging technique used to obtain detailed internal images of the body. The personnel that perform CT scans are called radiographers or ...

showed the infection had cleared, however, and Arnerich returned to work in January 2014. During a

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

lockdown in spring 2020, Arnerich joined other Mariners players in posting video drills to encourage kids to continue in baseball activity. Arnerich's fielding drill video included his young son and daughter.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arnerich, Tony 1979 births Living people Seattle Mariners coaches Baseball players from Santa Rosa, California Santa Rosa Bear Cubs baseball players Texas Tech Red Raiders baseball players Sonoma State Seawolves baseball coaches California Golden Bears baseball coaches Major League Baseball hitting coaches Burlington Bees players Wilmington Blue Rocks players Wichita Wranglers players Greensboro Bats players Jupiter Hammerheads players Carolina Mudcats players Sonoma State University alumni