A former Penfield baseball standout is now one of the youngest managers in Major League Baseball.

Jason Kanzler, a first-team All-Greater Rochester selection during his playing days at Penfield, was hired Tuesday as manager of the Seattle Mariners. The 36-year-old replaces Dan Wilson and becomes the second-youngest manager in the majors.

Kanzler was the Chicago Cubs' director of player development since 2024, a period that saw outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong emerge as one of the top players in the game.

At Penfield, Kanzler was a three-year varsity player who pitched and played the outfield. He earned All-County honorable mention as a junior, then was named team MVP, first-team All-County and third-team All-State as a senior. He also served as a team captain during his high school career.

In Seattle, he will confront a clubhouse with a mix of emerging talent and established stars. The club debuted top prospects like infielders Cole Young - a Gold Glove winner at second base - and Colt Emerson and, later in the season, slugging outfielder Lazaro Montes.

Yet it was the veteran core - most notably 2025 MVP runner-up Cal Raleigh - that disappointed in 2026 and led to Wilson's firing. Wilson, All-Star outfielder Julio Rodriguez and a deep pitching staff helped lead the Mariners to Game 7 of the 2025 American League Championship Series before backsliding to a 76-86 record and third-place finish in the weak AL West.

Kanzler was a major league coach for the Astros in 2022 and '23, a period in which they won the World Series and reached Game 7 of the ALCS. He will be the third manager hired by baseball operations president Jerry Dipoto, following Scott Servais and Wilson, the beloved former Mariners catcher.

"Our goal in this process was finding a manager with the ability to challenge all of us to improve," Dipoto said in a statement released by the club. "Jason has the mindset, expertise, communication skills, and intensity to help create a championship standard here in Seattle."

Kanzler, the first major league manager named Jason, played three seasons as an outfielder in the Twins organization and was a 20th-round pick out of the University at Buffalo in 2013.