The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Baseball
- Title:
- Assistant Coach, Baseball
- Phone:
- 512-471-5732
The former Seattle Mariners pitching coordinator and Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, Max Weiner joins the Texas Baseball staff as an assistant coach after spending the 2024 season on head coach Jim Schlossnagle’s staff.
Weiner served as the Aggies’ pitching coach in 2024 and helped lead Texas A&M to historic levels with their best-ever NCAA runner-up finish and 53 total wins, which tied for the second-most in program history. The squad was built around outstanding pitching, finishing fourth nationally with a 3.86 ERA, a nation-leading 12 shutouts and a school record 715 strikeouts. Weiner also coached a pair of All-American pitchers in reliever Evan Aschenbeck and starter Ryan Prager. Aschenbeck led the nation with a 1.78 ERA, while also recording 10 saves with a 6-1 record and 87 strikeouts in 75.2 innings pitched. Prager went 9-1 with a 2.95 ERA and a team-high 124 strikeouts in 19 starts in 2024. Other Aggie pitchers had career-best seasons, including junior Chris Cortez who led the team in wins with a 10-3 record and 2.78 ERA with 102 strikeouts in 64.2 innings pitched.
Weiner made the move to Texas A&M from the Seattle Mariners where he has served as the organization’s pitching coordinator from December of 2018 until July of 2023.
With Weiner on board, the Mariners experienced a pitching renaissance throughout the organization. In the four years since his hire, Seattle had eight pitchers ranked as Top 100 prospects and boasted the only MLB rotation in modern history with a rotation of four homegrown starters under the age of 26, all who spent no more than two seasons in the minors.
In addition to the on-field accolades, Weiner has landed national acclaim from multiple media outlets in recent years, including being named to the “35 Under 35” list by The Athletic, which spotlighted 35 exceptional people under the age of 35 shaping baseball in 2019. Most recently he was named to the “30 Under 30 2023” list by Forbes Magazine in December of 2022, highlighting those under the age of 30 who are blazing new trails in the sports world.
Weiner’s role in the organization was key in the Mariners’ player development. While there he worked closely with all aspects of the organization including the front office, scouting, analytics teams and coaching staffs throughout the minor and major leagues.
He is known for his “Control The Zone” mantra, emphasizing controlling the zone by getting first-pitch strikes, winning 1-1 counts and limiting walks. That message has been well received by his pupils as the Mariners ranked first among all 30 teams in MLB in the “Dominate The Zone” metric which combines strikeout/walk rates with success on 0-0 and 1-1 counts.
Mariner arms were also durable during his tenure, twice leading professional baseball in pitchers with velocity gains while conversely sporting the fewest number of days of pitchers on the injured list.
In 2022, the same year the Mariners broke a 21-year playoff drought, three of Seattle’s four farm teams boasted their league’s pitcher of the year. The feat came a season after the Seattle farm system was ranked No. 1 in baseball, only three years after being at the bottom of the rankings.
A native of Miami, Fla., Weiner joined Seattle’s organization after one year as the minor league pitching coordinator for the Cleveland Guardians organization. He also founded The Arm Farm at the age of 19, an online platform for pitching development and charity serving youth and amateur baseball players that is still active today.
Weiner played two seasons at Lake Sumter State College before transferring to FIU in his hometown of Miami. There he completed his bachelors in sociology in 2017.
