Well-deserved NY Mets coach promotion has had its side effects

Justin Willard is the man who trots out to the mound whenever there’s an issue with a New York Mets pitcher. A pep talk or whatever it is he needs, Willard is the loudest voice on the pitching side of coaching. Not discussed all that much is the man assisting him, Dan McKinney. The club’s assistant pitching coach worked his way through the system. Working alongside many Mets minor league pitchers in recent seasons, it’s hard to not notice the effect of losing him.

For the last two seasons or so, the Mets minor league pitching has been a topic for fans to gush over. The growth of Nolan McLean, Jonah Tong, and Brandon Sproat highlighted many discussions on social media and beyond. Even last season we saw more pitchers climb into relevancy. It seemed as if the Mets couldn’t miss on pitching prospects.

The story is much different in 2026. As the starting pitching staff struggles, so too have many of their top pitching prospects. Tong is an absolute mess. Pitchers like R.J. Gordon and Will Watson have been atrocious when healthy. Maybe the kids are missing McKinney.

Dan McKinney might be better off in the Mets minor league system than assisting in the majors

How much knowledge can McKinney actually pass along to a player like Freddy Peralta or Kodai Senga? A horse whisperer can’t get a pig to read. McKinney had a proven track record in the minor leagues, last year working for the Binghamton Rumble Ponies. Their pitching staff was anchored by McLean early, Tong, Jack Wenninger, and a few others on their way to a Double-A Championship.

No doubt worthy of a promotion for his work with the Double-A pitchers last year, we can start to wonder if maybe a reason for the fall-off for so many of the Mets minor league pitchers is because they lost an important voice. McKinney eventually getting to the big leagues could have been pitched as a way for him to follow the prospects he helped to develop. He jumped past several of them, McLean now being the one pitcher with any sense of permanence on the big league roster he’d be familiar with.

It wasn’t an easy call and to criticize the Mets for awarding him with a big league job for the great results in the minors is unfair. McKinney earned it. They needed to see what he could offer at the big league level. And maybe he is doing a good job. It’s hard enough to measure a big league coach’s effect. How do you quantify their assistance’s performance?

Without a doubt, something is missing in the farm this year for the Mets. Projected relievers in the offseason and preseason, Ryan Lambert and Dylan Ross have been lost in Triple-A. Lambert has a 6.16 ERA through 19 innings with Ross topping him at 9.90 through 20 frames. 

I won’t blame the coaches. It’s the circumstance. McKinney might’ve been too good at his job to ever stay where he would benefit the players most. A demotion just doesn’t seem right and yet that’s exactly where his wisdom might do its best work.

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