Andy McKay, the new director of player development, believes in a mental approach to baseball and wants to help redefine the “Mariners’ way” to play the game.
Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto believes that unlocking the mind is “the next great frontier” in baseball.
And in Andy McKay, the ballclub’s new director of player development, the M’s think they have the person to help guide them to this brave, new world.
McKay was Dipoto’s out-of-the-blue choice in October to replace Chris Gwynn as the overseer of their farm system. They had never even met before the interview, but McKay once coached the son of new Mariners’ manager Scott Servais in a collegiate summer league in LaCrosse, Wisc.