FLUSHING, NY — Once an infielder in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ farm system from 2006-2013 to now the hitting coach of the Miami Marlins, Pedro Guerrero has seen and done it all when it comes to providing insights on the art of hitting.
Born in San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic, Guerrero, 36, is the nephew of former MLB manager and longtime coach Manny Acta, who is currently the bench coach of the Seattle Mariners, an organization the 56-year-old has been a part of since 2015.
“We’re both really busy with a long season, but we’re always in touch,” said Guerrero of his close family bond with Acta in an interview with Latino Sports Friday afternoon at Citi Field. “He’s always been very supportive in every sense of the word.”
Looking to help others develop their individual skillset by beginning his coaching career in the likes of his uncle, Guerrero served as a bench coach for two seasons with the Ogden Raptors of the Pioneer League, which was the Dodgers’ rookie-level affiliate during the years of 2016-17.
Pedro Guerrero was hired by the Marlins and named the franchise’s hitting coach in January of 2025 after spending the last three seasons as the San Francisco Giants’ assistant hitting coach – Image Credit: Robert Rizzo/Latino Sports
He then spent time with the Philadelphia Phillies (2018-2021) and San Francisco Giants (2022-2024) as the assistant hitting coach at the Major League level. Fast forward to January of 2025, Guerrero was hired by Miami and named the franchise’s hitting coach—working with current Marlins assistant general manager and former Giants and Phillies manager, Gabe Kapler, during each stop.
Evaluating his first season in Miami with a team filled of young and developing talent, listed as the third-youngest roster across MLB in 2025 according to ESPN, Guerrero stated, “The guys have been doing a really good job overall, putting quality at-bats together but just aren’t getting the results we wanted.”
In spite of a 63-72 overall record on the year, Guerrero’s take holds up as the Marlins rank seventh in all of baseball this season in hits (1,155) and tied for 12th in batting average (.250).
When asked of the day-to-day learning lessons he seeks to provide Miami’s lineup with, Guerrero emphasized engraving certain insights into their memory at the plate:
“I think it’s learning how to take an at-bat. When you’re young, you come up and think, ‘I have to get a hit, I have to get a hit.’ And sometimes, on a level like this, other teams can exploit that—that over aggressiveness as a young kid. So, just learning how to manage an at-bat and getting to the at-bat, and just settling in during it. And with that, they’re going to build some trust knowing that they’ve seen some pitches already and know how the ball moves in there—which is very different from just me trying to explain to them how it looks compared to them seeing how it actually is in the batter’s box.”
Miami’s hitting coach Pedro Guerrero watches the Marlins take batting practice before Miami faces the Mets on Friday night at Citi Field – Image Credit: Robert Rizzo/Latino Sports
Nonetheless, for many within Miami’s lineup in Friday night’s 19-9 beatdown by the Mets, this was the Marlins’ first look at New York’s 22-year-old rookie right-hander Jonah Tong, who made his MLB debut after getting called up to the show earlier in the week from Triple-A Syracuse.
Regarding the lead up to facing the Mets’ No. 2 ranked pitching prospect Tong, 44th on MLB’s Top-100 prospect list, making his MLB debut, Guerrero said, “Scouting and preparing for a rookie debut is always tough because you don’t know how it’s gonna go in terms of the adrenaline of the pitcher—it could be really great or it could be really bad.
The plan is to usually approach it in a way that you’re always more on the offensive and agressive side. Because if you get the guy to shy away, then, then you’re probably in a better spot than him feeling like, ‘Oh, I got this.’”
In Tong’s first Major League inning of work, the offensive approach Guerrero laid out appeared in Queens as Miami was retired in order on a total of six pitches—swinging on five of the six which resulted in a Xavier Edwards line out to center field, Jakob Marsee fly out to left field and Agustín Ramírez pop up to second base.
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