Shortly after the Reds released him,he signed with the Chicago White Sox,who assigned him to the Double-A Birmingham Barons. He spent 1990 and most of 1991 with the Triple-A Vancouver Canadians before getting his only call to the big leagues in May 1991. Wakamatsu played 18 games in the majors as a backup catcher for the White Sox in 1991,[7] working in all of his starts for knuckleballerCharlie Hough.
He spent 2000 managing the Erie SeaWolves,the Anaheim Angels' Double-A affiliate,and then the next two seasons as a roving catching instructor in the Angels organization.
Major leagues
From 2003 to 2006,Wakamatsu was the Texas Rangers' bench coach. During the 2006 season,he served as manager for two games while Buck Showalter was in the hospital with an irregular heartbeat brought about due to dehydration,and in 2007,took the third base coach job when Ron Washington took over as manager. He spent 2008 as the bench coach of the Oakland Athletics.
On November 19,2008,Wakamatsu was named the manager of the Seattle Mariners,replacing interim manager Jim Riggleman,and becoming the first Asian-American manager in the majors.[8]
Wakamatsu in 2009
On April 6,2009,Wakamatsu won his managerial debut as the Mariners beat the Minnesota Twins 6–1 on Opening Day.
Fred Claire,former baseball executive and current writer for MLB.com,stated that Wakamatsu and his staff,composed of bench coach Ty Van Burkleo,pitching coach Rick Adair,hitting coach Alan Cockrell,first base coach Lee Tinsley,bullpen coach John Wetteland and performance coach Steve Hecht,deserved credit for a 24-game improvement. Claire wrote this about Wakamatsu:
It is the relationships that Wakamatsu has built during his time in baseball that defines him best. He was somewhat of an unknown to the public when he was hired as the Mariners' manager last November, but he is well-known and highly respected within the game.[10]
On May 20, 2010, during a game against the Toronto Blue Jays, Wakamatsu received his first career ejection. As of June 12, 2010, he had a career total of two ejections.
On August 9, 2010, amidst one of the worst seasons in team history, Wakamatsu was fired as Mariners manager.[1] He finished with a record of 127 wins and 147 losses.[11]
On April 19, 2015, Wakamatsu was one of five Royals (also pitching coach Dave Eiland, manager Ned Yost, pitcher Kelvin Herrera and shortstop Alcides Escobar) to be ejected in a game against the Oakland Athletics. Two games prior, Escobar had been injured following an attempt by A's third baseman Brett Lawrie to break up a double play. Considering the slide a dirty one, Royals pitcher Yordano Ventura hit Lawrie in the elbow the following game and was immediately ejected. In the series finale, A's pitcher Scott Kazmir hit Lorenzo Cain in the foot and warnings were given. Yost and Eiland were immediately ejected for arguing. Later in the 8th inning, Kelvin Herrera threw a 100mph fastball behind Lawrie and a trio of ejections followed (Herrera, Wakamatsu and Escobar). The Royals would end up winning the game 4–2 despite the ejections.[14] Wakamatsu was actually ejected twice, as when a warning has been issued, the pitcher and manager are automatically ejected. Wakamatsu was the acting manager. This was the cause of his first ejection, the second being him arguing with the home plate umpire.
The Rangers hired Wakamatsu as their bench coach before the 2018 season.[15] When manager Jeff Banister was fired in September 2018, Wakamatsu took over as interim manager.[16] He finished with a record of three wins and seven losses.[11] He returned to his position as bench coach for the following season.[17] Wakamatsu was let go by Texas following the 2021 season.[18]
Wakamatsu is married to Iowa native Laura Lynn Mullin. He resides in North Richland Hills, Texas with wife, and their three children, sons Jacob and Lucas and daughter Jadyn. Both his sons are also baseball players. Jake was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 48th round of the 2011 MLB Draft and currently plays in the Kansas City Royals organization. Luke was drafted in the 20th round of the 2015 MLB Draft.[20]
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