Trent Blank, a 2008 graduate of Columbia High School who pitched at Baylor University and then in the Colorado Rockies’ minor league system, was named last week as the bullpen coach and director of pitching strategy for the Seattle Mariners. 

He served as an acting bullpen coach for the Mariners this past season. 

Trent is the son of former minor league pitcher Bob Blank.

“Well, it starts with my dad,” Trent told Mariners Blog about his passion for baseball and pitching. “We grew up in a pretty small town in Illinois that baseball kind of revolves around it. There was a fall league there that my dad was the treasurer of, and I was the bat boy for those teams for a few years. I grew up just watching them play baseball and I fell in love with it.”

Blank led the CHS baseball team to a state title in 2007. A three-time team captain, Blank posted a career 19–5 record with a 1.76 ERA and 171 strikeouts as an Eagle and was also a standout basketball player.

Following his minor league career, Blank transitioned into more of an analytical life, beginning with his time at TMI Sports Medicine, where he spent four years as a baseball performance specialist. That caught the eyes of the Mariners front office. He was also briefly named Director of Player Development at Dallas Baptist University.

“I took a lot of different paths to get to where I am now,” Blank told Mariners Blog. “I would say the main theme in all of this is that I have always been around great people, some tremendous resources and quality information, and I was able to sort of tie it all together.”