Paul Davis Named Mariners Pitching Coach
Davis joins Mariners organization from St. Louis system
SEATTLE, Wash. — Mariners General Manager Jerry Dipoto and Mariners Manager Scott Servais announced today that the team has hired Paul Davis as the club’s new Major League pitching coach.
“Paul is a bright pitching mind with a very diverse background,” Dipoto said. “He has exceptional understanding of the mechanics of pitching, as well as the balance to make evidence-based decisions.”
“I’m excited to add Paul to our coaching group,” Servais said. “As we’ve talked in recent weeks it became clear that his philosophies, experience and skillset made him a great fit for what we are building here.”
Davis spent the past five seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals, taking on increasing responsibility in their minor league system.
In 2018, he was the Cardinals Manager of Pitching Analytics, working to assist pitchers at all levels of the Cardinals organization. He was the Assistant Pitching Coordinator for the Cardinals minor league system in 2016 and 2017, after spending the 2015 season as Rehab pitching coach. He began his pro coaching career in 2013, working with the Cardinals Advanced Rookie team (Johnson City) as the pitching coach. He returned to that role in 2014, but added responsibilities as the Coordinator of Pitching Analytics.
Davis has a varied baseball background, working as a head coach at Dana College (Blair, NE) from 1995–1999 as well as for the Omaha Indians college summer team in 1998. In six seasons at Dana, Davis was twice named Nebraska-Iowa Athletic Conference Coach-of-the-Year and led the Vikings to a school-record 32 wins and a conference championship in 1996 at the NAIA level. He was a high school / American Legion coach in 1986–88, 1997 and 2011–2012. His scouting background includes his work as the Cardinals Pitching Mechanics Team Leader 2014–2018, and time spent as the Philadelphia Phillies pre-draft psychological evaluator in 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2012. He served as a “bird-dog” scout in 1997 and 1998.
Off the field, he taught college courses for many years, including working as an adjunct professor in Athletic Coaching at the University of Nebraska (2005–2012), teaching Psychology at Iowa Western Community College (2005–2011) and Sports Management at Nebraska Wesleyan University (2007–2009).
Davis has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Creighton University (1985), a Bachelor of Science degree in History Education from Peru State College (2004) and a Masters in Education in Educational Administration from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (2004). He took advanced course work in Leadership Studies at University of Nebraska-Lincoln through 2007, lacking only a dissertation for his doctoral (PhD) degree.
Davis graduated from Osceola High School in Kissimmee, FL in 1981, where he played baseball for three seasons. He played at Valencia Community College (Orlando, FL) in 1982 and 1983 prior to transferring to Creighton, where he played two seasons (1984–85).
