Toronto Blue Jays hire Edmonton Riverhawks hitting coach
Photo credit: Mark Ossanna - Instagram
The Toronto Blue Jays have hired Edmonton Riverhawks hitting coach Mark Ossanna.
Ossanna announced on social media that he's joining the Blue Jays as a hitting coach.
Excited to announce I'll be joining the Toronto Blue Jays organization as a hitting coach. Thankful for everyone who's helped me along the way. Pumped to get to work!!
Ossanna, a hitting coach for the Edmonton Riverhawks who played for the collegiate summer short-season West Coast League team in its first year, will work for the Blue Jays for its Dominican Summer League squad this coming season.
Former Riverhawks player & hitting coach Mark Ossanna has accepted a new role within the Toronto Blue Jays organization, serving as a hitting coach in the Dominican Summer League! Thank you for everything you've contributed to our organization, Mark!
The 25-year-old said Tuesday he developed a passion for coaching when he attended university at Minot State in North Dakota, specifically in hitting and player development.
While spending some time coaching in Montana this past summer, he got to know a member of the Blue Jays personnel, which led to the opportunity.
«It's going to be definitely a change of culture, change of scenery for me, change of weather this time, probably in the right direction for me, but I'm looking forward to it.»
Ossanna played mostly first base and catcher for the Riverhawks in 2022 and 2023, and played three years at Minot State, finishing up his NCAA career in 2024.
Series WIN 😤 A pair of massive home runs by Mark Ossanna and Jakob Poturnak spurred a comeback for the ages as the Hawks put up 7️⃣ runs in the 6th inning to grab the W 💪
Ossunna will coach and live full time in the Dominican Republic
He joined the Riverhawks' coaching staff a year and a half ago, and kept busy year-round in Edmonton, not only with the summer Riverhawks but with the spring-and-fall college Hawks program and high-school academy players as well.
Now it's on to the Blue Jays organization, which is exciting to the Buffalo, N.Y.-born Ossanna as he grew up following Canada's only major-league team, given that his Ontario-born father «is a huge Jays fan.»
«Out of all the teams that I could have ended up working for, for it to be the Blue Jays is really special to me, to my family and the people around me.»
Ossanna will move to the Dominican Republic in about two weeks and live there full-time.
He'll be in the Caribbean country over the baseball season, which stretches from spring training in February to October, but he plans to come back to Canada as he maintains a long-distance relationship with his girlfriend.
Source: CTV News
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| POLL | ||
JANVIER 7 | 75 ANSWERS Toronto Blue Jays hire Edmonton Riverhawks hitting coach Do you think hiring Mark Ossanna will make an impact as a hitting coach in the Blue Jays farm system? | ||
| Yes | 30 | 40 % |
| No | 12 | 16 % |
| Too early to tell | 33 | 44 % |
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