He’s currently one of the best stories in Canadian baseball but if you asked someone to tell you who Louis Boyd is, even the most ardent fan would be hard-pressed to come up with an answer.
Boyd is the Minor League Field Coordinator for the Seattle Mariners farm system. He just turned 30 this past May.
He’s also an amazing story.
A North Vancouver native who played for the North Shore Twins growing up, Boyd had finished his college career at the University of Arizona and was starting to prepare for life in the real world as an intern at the Nike headquarters in Oregon in 2017.
That’s when the Mariners called him to let him know they had selected him in the 24th round of the MLB Draft.
“I wouldn’t say I’d given up on baseball. It’s just the chances of me getting drafted were incredibly low, to the point where I had tossed my batting gloves, cleats and all the stuff from the previous season,” said Boyd, who had to go back to the University of Arizona and pick up some gear before making the two-hour trek from Tucson to the Mariners complex in Peoria. “The only thing I had left was my glove. Once I did get drafted, I was in a panic.”
When you are the 723rd-overall pick, making the majors is a distant dream. As an older player on three teams in his first professional season, Boyd realised how much he enjoyed being a mentor to some of the younger players and started to get the coaching bug.
By his second season in 2018, Boyd had already become a quasi player-coach with the Modesto Nuts of the California Single A League.
He was a full-time coach with Modesto in 2019 and was helping former big leaguer Denny Hocking run the team when he got another call from the Mariners.
“Our farm director — Andy McKay — asked me what I was doing. We were about to go golfing with our staff on an off-day. He told me that I wasn’t going to be golfing anymore. And in that moment, I thought maybe I’m getting fired. I didn’t know what I did. I’m not sure what he’s about to say. And then he said, you’re going to fly out to Everett tonight, and you’re going to manage that team for the rest of the season,” remembered Boyd.
Boyd was a sponge around Hocking, learning how to be organized, how to be prepared and how to interact with players in a successful way.
Now he would put those lessons to the test as a 25-year-old manager of the Mariners Single A Northwest League affiliate in Everett, Washington.
As luck would have it, Boyd made his debut as manager of the Everett AquaSox at Nat Bailey Stadium in Vancouver against the Canadians on July 23, 2019. Boyd’s debut was a success as future Mariner George Kirby would pick up the win in a 5-3 AquaSox victory.
“As a 25-year-old at that point, I knew I wasn’t oblivious to the fact that there were a lot of eyes on what we were doing. A big part of me just didn’t want to mess anything up. And to the point where I remember, we were about 30 minutes before game time, and I realized I hadn’t eaten anything because I was just so focused on making sure the lineups were right, that we were doing the right things and that everything was going smoothly. It was incredibly nerve wracking but it was awesome having friends and family in the stands. It really was a surreal start to my managerial career for sure,” recalled Boyd.
Boyd managed the AquaSox for a couple of seasons and actually had a 20-year-old Julio Rodriguez for a month during the 2021 campaign.
“The physicality that he brought to the field and the mentality that he combined that with is why he’s special. He’s not just a physical freak. He is incredibly strong mentally and he prepares unlike others. It wasn’t surprise as to why he was able to have so much success as a young player. I felt fortunate being around him,” recalled Boyd of the future Mariner star.
After the 2021 season, the Mariners offered Boyd the position of Minor League Field Coordinator, which kind of surprised him seeing how he didn’t even know the job was available.
It has taken him away from coaching on a daily basis but it has allowed Boyd to have much more of an overall impact in terms of the farm system. He oversees assignments for roving instructors in the organization and supports the coaching staffs for all of the Mariner affiliates which include Everett, Modesto, the Tacoma Rainers (AAA), the Arkansas Travellers (AA) and the Mariners team in the Arizona Complex League.
“I need to make sure that good things are happening on the field with our players and our staff and do my best to help assist and support the people in our organization so that our players are growing, our staff members are growing, and we’re upholding the standards of the Seattle Mariners and who we want to be,” he said.
“It’s just everyone supporting one another in a group effort to bring the most out of our players and each other as staff members so we can continue to grow and create good things which is the biggest goal.”
Boyd spends approximately three weeks a month on the road while usually spending a week at his home in Tsawwassen. He will fill in for managers and coaches, who all get four days off during the year to attend graduations, weddings or just go see their families. He’ll sometimes cede managerial duties to an affiliate’s bench coach and assist him in the process of game planning but his passion is spending time on the field during his visits working with young players.
It’s something that he misses on a day-to-day basis.
“In order to create an impact for a player, the level of your relationship needs to be so deep. When you’re with a player through the ups and the downs through the long grind of a minor league season, you have some really unique, special moments where you can create a lasting impact.
“That feeling of seeing a player take something you’ve worked on, and then bring it into the game and have success with it, and to see the look on their face when they do it…that is why I think all of us coach. Or I would hope that it is because when your purpose is outside of yourself, and you’re putting everything you have into someone else, the level of dedication and impact that you can make is astronomical.
“Those moments of gratification are what I search for as a coach and do I get as many of those in my role? No, because I’m in a clubhouse for maybe a week max at a time, but thankfully, they do still come and they’re really fun to create.”
As for getting back into coaching on a full-time basis, Boyd hasn’t really thought about it as he’s too focused on the task at hand.
“It’s a question that gets asked every once in a while, even by friends and family, and my answer continues to be I really don’t know. I am stuck on the fact that I have yet to really look at the future in terms of what I’m trying to do. And I know it’s a cliche, but I really just try to crush what I’m doing and be present in that. And by doing that, I’ve been very thankful to be given future opportunities and future growth in my career.
“So, it feels a little silly to change that up and start thinking about myself more and what I can or could accomplish within my career. I just want to trust that the people around me are looking out for me and hopefully they believe in what I can bring to the table. And whatever happens, happens.
“All I know is that I love the organization that I’m in. I feel incredibly supported and I love to try and make an impact on people. If that is a part of my job title, then I’m going to be happy. I know it’s a bit of a non-answer, but that’s how I currently feel.”
Boyd is quite the story but I have a feeling that his story might get even bigger.
Veteran B.C. sports personality Bob “the Moj” Marjanovich writes twice weekly for Black Press Media.
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