Photo courtesy Mentink family

Jarrett, Chase, Angie and Jaxen Mentink (left to right) pose on a beach on Vashon Island.

The Mentink family knows baseball

By Tim Clinton

There's a reason Angie Mentink sounds like she knows what she's talking about as a color commentator and analyst on Seattle Mariners broadcasts.

It's because she does.

Not only has she been around the Mariners for 28 years as a reporter and anchor for ROOT Sports and its predecessors, she played the game of baseball as well as fastpitch softball herself.

Mentink played baseball as an outfielder for the Colorado Silver Bullets women's professional touring team after a stellar fastpitch career at the University of Washington and Central Arizona Junior College.

Her husband, Jarrett Mentink, also knows baseball firsthand.

He played for Decatur High School in Federal Way up until his graduation in 1987.

But Jarrett is the first to tell you that Angie knows more than he does about baseball mechanics like swings.

"I didn't play college ball," he said.  "I don't mess with the kids' throws or swings."

The Mentinks have two sons and both of them are in baseball.

"We have a batting cage at the house and I throw a lot of batting practice," Angie said.  "I coached them in Little League and their travel ball teams as well."

Jaxen just finished his freshman season playing baseball as a catcher for Sacramento City College and is now with the summer Portland Pickles.

Chase plays baseball and basketball at Mount Si High School in North Bend after his mid-winter transfer from Auburn.  Chase went to elementary school in North Bend previously.

"He wanted to go home," Jarrett said.

The presence of Jaxen made Sacramento a desirable Mariners stop for Angie when they played the Athletics there in May in a converted minor league ballpark.

"I'm probably the only broadcaster who wanted to be on the Sacramento trip," she said.

Angie is signed up by the Mariners for 70 games on television along with 20 on radio and 30 on pregame broadcasts.

"I love it," she said of her new job.  "It's challenging, but I enjoy the game within the game, the little things.  I like bringing the little things to light for Mariners fans."

"She's a lifetime learner," Jarrett said.  "She's always trying to get better.  She knows she has a lot to learn, but she's willing to listen to others who have been doing it longer."

Angie shares her duties with former Mariners players Dave Valle, Jay Buhner and Ryan Rowland-Smith.

She was approached by the Mariners to become their regular employee coming over from ROOT Sports in the last offseason.

"They said do you want to do this next year, and I asked how many games do you want me to do and they said 70," Angie said.  "At first I thought it would be like 20, but when they said 70, I was really excited about it."

She is the first woman to hold such a position in the history of the Mariners.

"She's been breaking glass ceilings her whole life," Jarrett said.  "I'm grateful to the people who give her something she's earned with her hard work."

The first ceiling she broke was to play starting middle linebacker for her high school's junior varsity football team at Corona del Sol in Arizona.

But it was in fastpitch where her hard work paid off in the form of a college career.

She started off playing shortstop at Central Arizona, helping that team to its fourth and fifth national titles.

She switched to center field at the University of Washington.

"As a sophomore, I hurt my face sliding into second," Angie said.  "I had to wear a cage and helmet.  So, I've been an outfielder ever since."

Angie, who played under her maiden name of Marzetta, found herself on a brand new program with the Huskies in 1993.

"It was a good place for the UW to get upper classmen," she said of Central Arizona's successful program.

She stood out at Washington and still holds the Huskies' season records of 59 stolen bases and a .472 batting average.

"She was an incredible softball player," Jarrett said.

Angie's efforts caught the attention of the United States Olympic softball team and the baseball Silver Bullets.

"At the time I signed I was an alternate for the U.S. Olympic team for softball," she said.  "At that time if you signed a pro contract you were not eligible for the Olympics.  But I always wanted to play baseball."

Angie stayed with the Silver Bullets team sponsored by Coors Light in 1995 and 1996, touring the nation.

"We were barn storming all across the country," she said.

The trips included Major League Baseball fields like Fenway Park and Coors Field, and others not around anymore like Jacobs Field, Three Rivers Stadium, Candlestick Park and Seattle's Kingdome.

"It was absolutely yes, that's what I want to do," she said.  "I played in Everett, at the Kingdome and in Tacoma at Cheney Stadium, too."

Next up for her was a one-year job doing color commentary on Husky baseball broadcasts.

"So, I've come full circle," she said of returning to the color commentary position.

Angie caught on with what later would become ROOT Sports covering the Mariners after that.

"I started off doing features for the pregame show," she said.  "I earned a whopping $4,000.  I was giving hitting lessons on the side at Dave Henderson's Ballyard."

Mentink progressed to becoming first the weekend and then the weekday anchor.

"Then it morphed to pre and postgame shows and walk off interviews as well," she said.  "I've done it all."

Angie married Jarrett Mentink as her second husband coming up on 21 years ago.

They met through Seattle Pacific University basketball coach Jeff Hironaka.  Jarrett assisted there before stepping down shortly before the introduction.

"She was in the SPU golf tournament, and he set us up on a blind date," Jarrett said.  "We had lunch at the old Palomino in Seattle, and the rest is history.  If I was still coaching, he would not have introduced us.  As much as I like coaching, I wouldn't trade Angie and the boys for the world."

Jarrett left the Falcons to spend more time writing children's books for his Sports Star line.  He has written the text for 17 books in all, including about Ken Griffey, Jr. and Felix Hernandez of the Mariners as well as Arizona Diamondbacks players like Corbin Carroll, Geraldo Perdamo and David Perelta.

"The Diamondbacks are great partners," said Jarrett, who also wrote one on Seattle Seahawks running back Shaun Alexander called "Alexander the Great."

Jarrett went to the University of Washington before earning his master's degree at Washington State University, where he wrote his first book, "Alley the Cat," and watched younger brother Justin play baseball.

"I'm both a Husky and a Coug," he said.  "I root for whoever is winning."

Jarrett went into coaching and teaching.

"In baseball and basketball, I wasn't good enough to play college, so I had to start coaching," he said.

He has coached basketball at SPU as an assistant and as head coach at Todd Beamer High School in Federal Way three years and one year of interim work at Sumner.  He also helped at Tacoma Community College.

Jarrett teaches health and performance classes at Seattle Pacific, including sports psychology and administration classes.

"I still have an office next to the coaches and that makes it fun," he said.

While Jarrett left the baseball coaching of their sons to Angie, she has left other aspects of raising them to him.

"Here people say that our sons are so well adjusted and nice kids, but he's the reason why," Angie said.  "His moral compass points due north.  That comes from two good parents who raised four boys and adopted a fifth."

Jarrett is the son of Russ, now 89, and Judy, who passed away in 2024.

"I see a lot of his mom in him and her strength," Angie said.  "She was always good at sizing up people and he is, too.  He makes sure he has good people around him."

Angie is glad the people he has chosen include her.

"We're puzzle pieces that fit," she said.  "As rate as I am as the first female on my job, my husband is more rare.  He's so supportive of a woman trying to navigate these barriers.  That's the rarest find of all."

"She's worked incredibly hard to get this opportunity," Jarrett said of Angie.  "We're thankful they gave her the opportunity based on merit."

Photo courtesy Mentink family

Angie Mentink, then known by her maiden name of Angie Marzetta, juggles baseballs as a member of the Colorado Silver Bullets.