Brandon Mann: Playing days over

Nippon Professional Baseball's Lotte Marines named Mann as its minor-league pitching coordinator Wednesday, signaling the end of the 36-year-old's playing career, Jee-ho Yoo of the Yonhap News Agency reports.

After bouncing around in affiliated ball, independent ball and various foreign leagues upon beginning his professional career in 2002, Mann finally reached the majors as a 34-year-old in 2018. He made seven appearances out of the Texas bullpen, logging a 5.40 ERA and 1.32 WHIP. Mann proceeded to spend the past two seasons overseas, and after his performance took a big step back while he pitched for the Chinese Professional Baseball League's Rakuten Monkeys in 2020, the lefty reliever has now elected to transition into coaching.