Scott Brosius has helped Mariners as hitting coach in Tacoma
Originally published September 22, 2016 at 7:38 pm Updated
September 22, 2016 at 7:55 pm
The three-time World Series champion left a successful
coaching career at Linfield to start a pro career with the Rainiers.
By Matt Pentz, Seattle Times
When Scott Brosius left his post as the baseball coach at
Linfield College last year after eight successful seasons, he cited a need for
new challenges, the allure of a “new adventure.”
Brosius didn’t exactly picture divisional road trips to
scenic Fresno, Reno and Sacramento as the first-year hitting coach for the
Tacoma Rainiers, but hey, he’s never been one for five- and 10-year plans
anyway.
“The travel, especially in Tacoma, was an eye-opener,”
Brosius said this week.
“I had to remind myself occasionally at 3 in the
morning that this was all my idea.”
It took a little while, 15 years removed from his playing
career, to regain the rhythms of the professional game. But the former New York
Yankees third baseman compared the sensation to riding a horse, the feel of the
saddle familiar after a period of readjustment.
In eight seasons at Linfield, Brosius compiled a 270-96
record, leading the Wildcats to a Division III national championship, four
regional and five Northwest Conference titles.
Linfield is where he learned how to teach. The lessons he
imparted were on a more basic level than the ones he’s passing along at Class
AAA, sure, “but it’s the same idea. As a coach, you just love when the light
bulb turns (on),” Brosius said. “… You get a feel for how the younger guys
tick.”
With the Rainiers, he works with younger versions of
himself. The native of Milwaukie, Ore., won three World Series titles, a Golden
Glove and made the 1998 All-Star team while with the Yankees, but it took him
years of playing as a utility man with the A’s before he found his stride.
“I’ve been on every angle of Triple A as a player,” Brosius
said. “Coming up as the young guy trying to get there, the guy being sent down,
the guy on the roller coaster.”
His career arc is especially appealing for pupils such as
Mike Zunino, the Mariners catcher who has bounced between levels this season
working on his swing.
“He’s so good because he listens,” Zunino said. “He lets you
come to him, he listens and he already has an answer for whatever you’re
feeling. He always seems to be a step ahead. It’s nice, because a lot of guys
want to preach stuff and push it on you.”
Brosius ticks off the players he’s connected with this
season on their way from Class AAA to the big leagues: Zunino, Shawn O’Malley,
Stefan Romero, Mike Freeman, Nori Aoki, Dan Vogelbach.
“That’s kind of the fun of it, honestly,” Brosius said.
“We’ve had a lot of movement this year. You can get a chance to spend a day or
two with them, a week with them and see where they’re at.”
As for what’s next, Brosius was more vague.
“I try not to think in those terms, because you never know what’s
going to transpire,” he said. “You never say never. That’s the one thing I’ve
learned. But obviously I came into this with the idea that I love coaching and
want to coach at the highest level.”
