With the 1st pick the Seattle Mariners select… Catie Griggs from Atlanta United FC

The Seattle Mariners got off to a rocky start in 2021 because of former President Kevin Mather’s controversial words during an online conference at the Bellevue Breakfast Rotary Club. Mather resigned in February and the organization has been in search of his replacement for quite some time. Finally, the Seattle Mariners search committee came to a decision and announced the hiring of Catie Griggs.

Who is Catie Griggs and what can Seattle Mariners fans expect?

To say the least, the new President of Business Operations has had a great track record of success. She joined Atlanta United FC in 2017, the year the team entered Major League Soccer. Since then, Atlanta United has been one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference despite being a relatively new team.

More from SoDo Mojo

• 2023 Steamer Projections: Teoscar Hernandez could see a drop in Seattle
• Could the Mariners Acquire AL Batting Champion, Luis Arraez?
• Steamer Projections: Julio Rodriguez to enter rarified air in 2023
• What if the Mariners traded FOR Tyler O’Neill this time?
• Mariners starting pitching is being overlooked by MLB

The Seattle Sounders are a good comparison as both teams have dominated the league since joining as expansion teams. As the Chief Business Officer, Griggs led the MLS in average attendance in every season.

So not only was her former team succeeding on the field, they were succeeding off the field as well. In 2019, the team was named Sports Team of the Year, MLS Marketing Team of the Year, PR Team of the Year, and Social Team of the Year.

As a reminder, her role with the Seattle Mariners will be mostly on the Business side of things, while Jerry Dipoto will be handling Baseball Operations (if he gets extended). But, she will play a crucial role to ensure that there is alignment between the two departments.

While in Atlanta, she did exactly that. Griggs worked closely with the Technical Director to ensure there was mutual support between the two departments. This experience could be crucial to the success of the Seattle Mariners on the field because we are expecting the team to make some big additions in the coming offseasons.

Catie Griggs has also been with Futures Sport + Entertainment as the SVP/General Manager, Turner Broadcasting as the Senior Director of Business Operations and Strategic Partnerships, and Turner Sports as the Senior Manager of Strategy and Business Development.

Final thoughts, I think it is also great to see a woman leading the Business Operations of an MLB team. MLB has slowly been evolving and hiring more women in various roles and this is a step in the right direction for the Seattle Mariners who have had all kinds of front office issues in the past.

Griggs will officially start her role with the Mariners on the week of August 23rd. Until then, John Stanton will continue to act as the interim.