Kevin Mahoney Builds Coaching Repertoire

  As music plays over the stadium's speakers, the crack of bats echoes as hitting coach Kevin Mahoney stands to the side offering words of advice and encouragement as Pulaski Yankees' players take batting practice before a recent home game. Mahoney was in their shoes just a few short years ago before he made the transition to coaching.

     Originally from Miller Place, New York, Mahoney grew up playing baseball eventually attracting attention from several different colleges.

     "Canisius College ended up finding me at the New York State Empire Games. It's like the Olympics of high school sports," Mahoney said. "The head coach saw me play there and the next week contacted me for an official visit. They gave me the best scholarship and guaranteed me four years of playing."

     While at Canisius, Mahoney put up huge numbers and is currently the program's all-time leader in runs scored, hits, doubles, RBIs, and total bases. He's also the only player in program history with at least 100 runs, 100 hits, and 100 RBIs. Those numbers caught the attention of major league teams so Mahoney was excited whenever draft day rolled around in the summer of 2009.

     "I had a bunch of teams contact me including the Pirates, Mets, Blue Jays, Brewers, and Cardinals. Everyone kept telling me that I would go somewhere between five and 15," Mahoney said. "It was towards the end of the second and final day. Once the 20th round hit, we kind of gave up so we started playing card games. Then the 23rd round rolls around and we hear my name on the radio and we didn't know if it was really me or not."

     After doing some research, Mahoney realized that it was him and that the team was the New York Yankees, one of the few teams that hadn't really contacted him.

     "I was at my parent's house and I can tell you the exact room I was in. Everyone jumped up and started dancing. We looked like a flash mob and were all going nuts. It was a great moment," Mahoney said. "My dad actually had to go to work around the 15th so I called him and was like dad, I'm a Yankee. It was a dream come true."

     Now that he was drafted, Mahoney said he knew the real work was ahead of him.

     "It was tough. I wasn't a prospect and I wasn't a guy who was going to given the time to play. I had to earn it. I spent time on phantom DLs. I spent time in rookie ball as an older player like Kevin Cornelius. I was just the type of guy who needed a chance."

     He was given that chance in 2010 when he played for current Pulaski manager Tony Franklin who was managing the Double-A Trenton Thunder at the time. Mahoney's journey through the minors included stops as high as Triple-A before injuries forced him to retire.

     "The road wasn't paved very smooth and unfortunately I got injured three times in a year and it just didn't work out for me," Mahoney said. "But it was a wonderful experience and something I'll have the ability to hang onto and tell my kids about. It's another thing that really helped shaped me as a person and the type of worker I am."

     After retiring in 2014, Mahoney wanted to stay in baseball and hoped someone would give him the chance. Once again, it was the Yankees who came calling.

     "(Yankees executive) Gary Denbo and I met at Yankee Stadium before I got drafted and we just became good friends. He had a big influence on my career as a player so when I knew my career was over and I decided to retire, I gave him a call," Mahoney said. "I told him I needed to be in this game somehow, someway. We kept in touch and the opportunity arose where we needed a hitting coach in the GCL last year and I took full advantage of that and worked my butt off trying to learn as much as possible. I was fortunate to get this opportunity and now that I'm here, I'm not taking any day for granted. People work their whole lives to be in this position."

     Mahoney said his experience as a player has made it not only easy to relate to current Yankees' players but also to enhance his working relationships with the coaching staff.

     "Hector and I played with each other for two or three years. I played for Tony for three years. Butch and I had experience last year and this year in extended together so the four of us already know each other really well," Mahoney said. "We have a different variety of personalities but they mesh really well and it makes it a lot easier especially as a new coach to watch how these guys do it. It's been helpful because it's a tough transition. There are a lot of things coaches do behind the scenes that you don't think of as a player."

     One big thing Mahoney said is that he hopes to never stop learning and his goal in Pulaski is to instill the essentials into players that they can take with them for the rest of their careers.

     "What I want them to walk away with is some sort of foundation that when they struggle in their careers, because everyone struggles at some point, they will have a foundation where they can go back to how they started and this is what they need to get back to in order to become the player they are capable of being," Mahoney said. "If I can do that for every single player, then I did my job."