Less than a month after it appeared former Padres catcher Austin Nola would continue his journeyman career with the Atlanta Braves, it now appears the 35-year-old backstop is retiring.
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According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today on Twitter/X, Nola was granted his release by the Atlanta Braves so he can become the Seattle Mariners‘ new bullpen coach.
Catcher Austin Nola, who signed a minor-league contact this winter with Atlanta, has been granted his release to become the Seattle Mariners’ new bullpen coach.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) November 12, 2025
That would appear to end Nola’s 14-year career in professional baseball, which included 359 games over parts of six seasons with the Mariners (2019-20), Padres (2020-23) and Colorado Rockies (2025). He compiled a .247 batting average, 24 home runs and 137 RBIs in the majors.
In his four-year stint with the San Diego Padres, Nola typified the blue-collar resilience and understated contribution that was easy to overlook on a team of stars.
Acquired from Seattle in August 2020 as part of a trade that sent Ty France, Andrés Muñoz, Luis Torrens and Taylor Trammell to the Mariners, Nola arrived in San Diego with little fanfare. Yet he quickly carved out a valuable role behind the plate.
In 2021, his first full season with the Padres, Nola was one of the handful of catchers who helped steady a pitching staff amid change and transition. In October 2022, he started 12 games during San Diego’s run to the National League Championship Series.
That postseason culminated in a rare and memorable moment: facing his younger brother, Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola, in the NLCS — a family duel with the Fall Classic hanging in the balance.
In that postseason, Austin Nola hit just .225, but the significance of his role wasn’t in the number. It was in those big-game innings and the trust he earned.
By 2023, Nola’s place on the Padres’ roster had shifted. He fell into a backup role behind Gary Sánchez and Luis Campusano. Before he was optioned to Triple-A El Paso in July 2023, Nola provided veteran presence and defensive acumen at a position where the Padres needed steadiness as much as a sweet swing.
Nola elected free agency after the season, and signed a minor league contract with the Milwaukee Brewers in January 2024, officially ending his Padres tenure.
Nola made a brief 2025 cameo with the Colorado Rockies, slashing .184/.225/.211 in 14 games. His tenure in Denver was more memorable for an appearance on the mound — the only such appearance of his major league career. Nola allowed eight runs in the ninth inning of the Rockies’ 20-1 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on Aug. 6, leaving him with a career ERA of 72.00.
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