Mariners Infield Coach makes all the difference with young players

SEATTLE -- The Seattle Mariners start their regular season in a month, and the team is hard at work at spring training in Arizona to get ready. And that includes a motivational coach with a unique style.

"Just his energy. His personality, his fundamental drill, program you'd call it. It's so easy and works so good," said Mariners Short Stop JP Crawford when asked about First Base and Infield Coach Perry Hill. "He saved my career. I can't thank him enough. He changed my life, he changed my career."

Hill joined the Mariners organization in November 2018.  He's coached baseball for over 40 years and 2020 will be his 26th season in the big leagues.

"I love the game," said Hill. "I think I'm one of those guys that if I ever retire from the game, I'll be dead within the year because this is what I do and who I am."

Now in his second season with the Mariners, this squad has bought into his philosophy.

"We are trying to build a fielding foundation so even when they tweak and go off and do there own thing, if something goes wrong they always have a place they can go back and get right back on track again," said Hill.

"He's been phenomenal. He's helped me out tremendously. He's helped everybody out tremendously," said Kyle Seager. "He gets loud of there, he has great energy every day but behind that, there is so much teaching. There is so much knowledge that he has of the game, how he thinks about things you know. He's made a defense and infield work very simple so it's repeatable, it's simple and it works."

Hill is encouraged by what he seems from this group, "I've been on young teams before but I think the difference with this one, this one is very very talented too. It's one thing to be young or it's one thing to be talented but to be young and talented I mean this is a really good situation here, if we ride this out, it could be really fun."