Don Wakamatsu

Wilbur Donald "Don" Wakamatsu (born February 22, 1963 in Hood River, Oregon) will reportedly be named manager of the Seattle Mariners on 11/19/2008.

From 2003 to 2006, Wakamatsu was the Texas Rangers' bench coach. In 2006, Wakamatsu served as manager for 2 games while Buck Showalter was in the hospital with an irregular heartbeat brought about due to dehydration. In 2007, Wakamatsu became the third base coach when Ron Washington took over as manager.

In 2001 and 2002, Wakamatsu was a roving catching instructor in the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim organization. He also served in the Arizona Diamondbacks, Cleveland Indians, Seattle Mariners, and Chicago Cubs organizations.

Wakamatsu was a minor league manager for AA Erie (2000), AA El Paso (1999) and Rookie-Level Peoria (1997). His minor league managerial record is 215-248. He was the Manager of the Year in the California League in 1998.^[1]

Year	Team	League	Record	Finish	Organization	Playoffs	Notes
1997	AZL Diamondbacks	Arizona League	27-29	4th	Arizona Diamondbacks	none	shared position with Brian Butterfield
1998	High Desert Mavericks	California League	82-58	2nd	Arizona Diamondbacks	Lost in 2nd round
1999	El Paso Diablos	Texas League	64-76	7th	Arizona Diamondbacks
2000	Erie Sea Wolves	Eastern League	47-94	12th	Anaheim Angels

Wakamatsu was a candidate for the head coaching positions in Oakland and Texas in 2006.

Wakamatsu played briefly in the Majors as a backup catcher for the Chicago White Sox in 1991.^[1] All of his MLB starts were as knuckle-baller Charlie Hough's catcher.

Wakamatsu was a 3-sport star at the Bay area's Hayward High in high school, and ultimately chose baseball over football due to his lack of size.^[2] He was also an All Pacific-10 catcher during his last 3 years at Arizona State where he was a teammate of Barry Bonds. He was the last pick of the 1984 draft, but decided to return to ASU. In 1985, he was drafted in the 11th round by the Cincinnati Reds.

As of November 18th, 2008, Wakamatsu is to become the manager of the Seattle Mariners pending owner approval. ^[3]

[edit] External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference

Description by Wikipedia