As a self-described no-talent Little League right fielder growing up in Dayton, Ohio, Justin Hollander officially gave up any dream of playing for a Major League Baseball team in 1988.
Instead, his career plan shifted after watching an ESPN segment from veteran baseball journalist Peter Gammons on Sandy Alderson building the Oakland A’s into dynasty of that era.
“I decided that it was the job I wanted in my entire life,” Hollander said.
That dream became a reality on Sunday morning.
On Sunday morning, less than two days after celebrating the Mariners clinching their first postseason appearance since 2001, the team announced that Hollander had been promoted to executive vice president and general manager of baseball operations.
“Justin has been an integral part of our baseball ops leadership group and a wonderful partner to me throughout our time together,” said Jerry Dipoto, Mariners president of baseball operations, in a news release. “His passion, intelligence, people skills and creativity show up every day. Moving forward, the Mariners are simply a better organization with Justin in this role.”
Hollander has served as the Mariners assistant general manager since the 2020 season. He was originally hired by Dipoto in September of 2016 as the Mariners director of baseball operations.
“My family and I are incredibly excited about this opportunity,” Hollander said. “Thank you to John (Stanton), Chris (Larson) and all of the Mariners partners. And thank you to Jerry. The chance to continue working with Jerry, Scott (Servais) and all of our baseball operations group as the General Manager and to be a part of playoff baseball coming back to Seattle is a dream come true for me.”
Hollander has seen his responsibilities increase with each year with the Mariners. He’s been the primary negotiator for the Mariners in all contract situations for major league contracts, recently leading the efforts to secure contract extensions for Julio Rodriguez and Luis Castillo.
He’s also served as the Mariners primary liaison for all dealings with MLB and the office of the commissioner.
Given the Mariners’ success the past two seasons, this promotion to handle more of the day-to-day operations was expected. Hollander interviewed for the Los Angeles Angels general manager position after the 2020 season, finishing runner-up to Perry Minassian.
Before joining the Mariners, Hollander spent the previous nine seasons in the Angels front office, serving several different roles in the Angels baseball operations department.
He began his career with the Angels in January 2008, as a player development and scouting assistant. In that role, he worked closely with department heads in several distinct aspects of baseball operations, including arbitration, research and advance scouting. He was promoted to director of baseball operations in 2012 and served as the director of player personnel in 2016.
A native of Dayton, Ohio, Hollander is a 2001 graduate of The Ohio State University (B.S., business administration and marketing) and received his law degree from the University of San Diego in 2004.
Hollander, and his wife Whitney, reside in Seattle with their son, Elliot, and daughter, Lucy.
