Tony Arnerich

Anthony John Arnerich

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 200 lb.
• School Santa Rosa Junior College, Texas Tech University
• High School Montgomery High School (Santa Rosa)

• Born December 14, 1979 in San Francisco, CA USA

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Tony Arnerich attended Santa Rosa Junior College where he was a two-time, first-team all-league selection and a 2000 first-team Junior College All-American, helping guide his team to the 1999 California Junior College World Series. He then earned a scholarship to Texas Tech University where he was second-team All-Big 12 in 2001, leading the Red Raiders to an NCAA Regional berth. Arnerich moved from college baseball to professional baseball in the summer of 2001. He was a catcher in the minor leagues from 2001 to 2005, first in the Kansas City Royals organization and later with the Florida Marlins. He played 5 games in AA, but the bulk of his career was in Class A. Overall Arnerich hit .231/.305/.317 while appearing in 234 games.

In 2006 Arnerich began his coaching career as the head coach for the St. Cloud River Bats, a summer collegiate team that played in the Northwoods League. He returned to the River Bats the next two summers and won a league championship in 2007. During this time he also entered the college coaching ranks at Sonoma State University as a part-time assistant coach for the 2007 season. In fall 2007 the University of California hired him as a volunteer assistant coach, a role he retained for two seasons before becoming a full-time paid assistant coach. With the Bears he served as a hitting instructor and the third base coach. He left Berkeley in the summer of 2014. It is not clear what Arnerich did for the next two years though there are hints that he coached college ball somewhere.

The Seattle Mariners hired Arnerich in late 2016 to serve as their catching coordinator for 2017. He retained this role through 2021 while also working as an assistant hitting coordinator (2018-2019) and minor league field coordinator (2020-2021). During this five year stretch Arnerich twice served as an interim manager for the Mariners. In 2017 he took over the Clinton LumberKings on August 10th and managed the team for the remainder of the year. He replaced David Macias who accepted a coaching job with his alma mater Vanderbilt University. Arnerich had a second managing gig with the Tacoma Rainiers in June 2021 while Kristopher Negron was on paternity leave. In 2022, Arnerich was named hitting coach for the major league team and resumed that role in 2023. In 2024, however, he moved to the pitching side of the ledger as the team's bullpen coach.