Former Rainiers and Mariners utility player Kristopher Negron is back to manage Triple-A Tacoma
When Triple-A Tacoma begins the 2021 season Thursday night at Cheney Stadium, it will be the second time in Kristopher Negron’s career he has opened a baseball season with the Rainiers.
A longtime utility player in the minors and majors, Negron was the starting third baseman for Tacoma on opening night in 2019.
This season for the Rainiers the 35-year-old will have a new vantage point from the dugout, as the club’s first-year manager.
Thursday’s opener against El Paso will be Negron’s managerial debut at any level after he wrapped up his playing days in 2019, and spent last summer as the assistant to Seattle’s Director of Player Development Andy McKay, working with prospects at the alternate training site in Tacoma.
“I knew I wanted to be on the field and help out as much as I can,” Negron said following Tuesday’s workout at Cheney Stadium. “Last year, when I was at the alt site and kind of just running that type of thing, it really struck a fire in me, like this is kind of fun to be on the field and coaching up the guys, and having the boots on the ground type of feel, and it hit me in all the right places.
“I had a lot of fun. I realized this could be something that I see myself in the future pursuing and when the opportunity came up, I was like absolutely I want to jump all over it. I’m just learning as much as I can — in spring training and now — and I’m enjoying myself a lot.”
Negron first joined the Mariners organization late in the 2018 season, when he was picked up in a trade with the Diamondbacks.
He appeared in 18 games for the Mariners the final month of the season before opening the 2019 season with the Rainiers, where he hit .310/.396/.503 with 15 doubles, three triples, 12 home runs, 61 RBI and 11 stolen bases through 82 games before the Mariners called him up again that July.
The Mariners traded him to the Dodgers midway through the season, where he appeared in 30 more games before returning to Seattle’s system as a coach last season.
Negron played professionally for 14 seasons — and appeared in 1,439 minor league games, including 891 at the Triple-A level — after he was drafted in the seventh round out of Sacramento’s Cosumnes River College by the Red Sox in 2006.
He appeared in parts of six major league seasons with the Reds, Diamondbacks, Mariners and Dodgers, playing in 170 games.
Mariners manager Scott Servais also believes Negron’s playing experience as a utility player — he started at every position but pitcher and catcher during his major league career — could help him find success in a managerial role.
“They think the game constantly,” he said of utility players. “Those guys have a chance to further their career in the game by managing, and I thought Kris would eventually have the opportunity to do that, and I think he’s going to be great at it.”
Servais said he, along with bench coach Jared Sandberg — who formerly managed Triple-A Durham, and guided the Bulls to back-to-back International League championships in 2017 and 2018 — had an opportunity to sit down with Negron and Double-A Arkansas first-year manager Collin Cowgill during spring training to discuss everything that could come up during the course of a minor league season.
“It’s a learning process every step of the way, but I think I prepared myself in my playing career … and I’m embracing it,” Negron said. “I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
When Negron was named the organization’s Triple-A manager in January, McKay said he thought Negron would bring a “genuine desire to help other people” to the position.
“Wherever he’s been, he’s always been the best teammate in the clubhouse, he’s always been the leader in the clubhouse, and his playing career was really built on serving others,” McKay said.
While noting Negron’s accomplishments as a player, McKay believes he could find even more success as a coach.
“He’s a wonderful person,” McKay said. “And that personality is going to resonate. … I could not be more excited for him to lead our group in Tacoma.”
The group Negron has in Tacoma certainly generates excitement. Three of Seattle’s top 10 prospects, per MLB Pipeline, in outfielder Jarred Kelenic (No. 1), starting pitcher Logan Gilbert (No. 4) and catcher Cal Raleigh (No. 8), will all open the season with the Rainiers.
Several more up-and-comers, and others who already have major league experience, are also in Tacoma.
But, more than anything, Negron noted the excitement his players have to simply be back on the field, with minor league play resuming for the first time since 2019.
“It’s definitely good to be back,” Negron said. “There’s been a little buzz going around the clubhouse the past few days since we’ve been in Tacoma. … All of the guys are super fired up to be back on the field.”
This story was originally published May 6, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Former Rainiers and Mariners utility player Kristopher Negron is back to manage Triple-A Tacoma."
