The Washington Nationals revealed its 12-man coaching staff last week to finalize several expected hires, and Sean McGrath and Will Hawks became the latest names to surface on Monday to round out the minor league staff.
Sean McGrath will head to the Nationals for his second coaching stint with a major league organization. He joins after serving as the pitching coach at Lamar over the last two seasons where he produced impressive results in short order.
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McGrath previously worked within the Seattle Mariners organization working with the Double-A affiliate Arkansas Travelers during the 2022 season.
In his first season at Lamar, McGrath oversaw a pair of all-conference selections, including one first team selection in Riely Hunsaker, while Lamar broke the 18-year program record for single season strikeouts with 491. Lamar also led the conference in multiple categories including strikeouts while ranking second in ERA (4.33) with the first team all-conference selection leading the conference.
Hunsaker went on to become a 16th round selection by the Chicago Cubs in the 2024 MLB Draft, one of two pitchers under McGrath’s watch who signed in the major leagues that offseason. He also became the latest MLB Draft selection under McGrath after producing two pitcher in Jared Simpson, an eighth round pick by the Washington Nationals in 2023, and Ty Langenburg, an 11th round pick by the Minnesota Twins in 2023,
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Prior to Lamar, McGrath served two seasons at Iowa where the Hawkeyes were among the nation’s best pitching staffs, ranked section nationally in hits allowed per nine innings and fifth in strikeouts per nine innings.
Will Hawks, who previously served as the lower level pitching coordinator within the St. Louis Cardinals organizations, joins the Nationals after to finalize the staff. He was promoted to pitching coach this past season while he also spent three seasons at Lipscomb University. Hawks began his coaching career as the bullpen coach for Falmouth Commodores before joining Austin Peay in 2019 as a graduate assistant
McGrath and Hawks join Grayson Crawford, who serves as director of pitching in the minor leagues. Russ Steinhom, Phillip Cebuhar and CJ Gillman serve as the minor league hitting coaches with Steinhom in the upper level, Cebuhar in the lower level and Gillman stepping in as director of hitting in the minor leagues.
They will have another piece to work with once they officially arrive after the Nationals acquired right handed pitcher Luis Perales in a trade reported on Monday night.