Pitching coach Macon has played big role in Cutters’ 2026 success
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The MLB Draft League's learning curve can be daunting.
With two obtusely different seasons crammed into one, being a manager means juggling through a litany of raw talent hoping to boost their individual stock and continue their developmental path; all while vying for team success in a hypercompetitive six team format.
It's a set of circumstances that many coaches before Williamsport Crosscutter Pitching Coach Anthony "Happy" Macon have failed to succeed in. But as the Cutters continue to dominate, many wonder what the secret sauce has been for one of the best starts in the history of the Draft League.
"We don't get too high, we don't get too low," echoed Macon on the process. "Coach Kenny (Thomas) keeps us in a routine. Our routine is the reason why we are winning.
Macon, a tenured veteran with nearly 20 years of college baseball coaching experience, has more than paid his dues to becoming a mentor in the Draft League. Starting with a five year gig as an assistant coach with Alabama
State before a pitching coach gig with Savannah State until 2016. From there, the Texas native took his first head coaching gig with Texas College up until the pandemic, where Happy joined Prairie View A&M before a phone call took him up north to Williamsport.
"At the college level, you really have to develop, especially when you are not on the power five level or the high end major level," discussed "Happy" Macon prior to Monday's contest against the State College Spikes. "When you are not at those levels, you have to bring in kids that's on a lower scale of velocity. You have to build velocity.
Then when you build velocity, you have to rebuild a command. Then at the end of the day, the transfer portal takes away some of our best arms. Once you build them, they will come!"
It wouldn't be hard for Macon to make an impression before the season's media day availability. A bubblyattitude who wasn't afraid to make a joke or two, when it came time to talk ball, the veteran coach quickly turned serious regarding the way he coached. Just the hint of a question regarding coaching tactics could turn into a whole sit down conversation on the validity of long throws, eye test versus analytics, or the mental side of the game as a whole.
But nothing impresses like production, and for the Cutters in 2026, the numbers have spoken for themselves.
Under Macon's guidance, the Cutters have had a sensational season on the mound. In the first half season that saw the Cutters clinch a spot in the MLB Draft League Championship, Williamsport arms secured a 3.73 team earned run average that ranked the best in MLB Draft League First Half history. In addition, Williamsport pitchers went six for eight on save opportunities while leading the Draft League with a 1.23 WHIP, and a .203 batting average against.
"It's been amazing," discussed Macon. "The first half, those guys, they really made me proud. They allowed me to help them out with some of their things that they needed to work on. I didn't try to imprint on anyone, but they came to me because they trusted me and the things I could help them when I was able to help them."
And astonishingly, Williamsport's start to the second half has kept that pace despite the heavy roster turnover.
Through their first nine games of the season, the Cutters once again rank first in the Draft League in earned run average with a 3.83 mark that's more than half a point better than the next highest and over a point besting the third highest.
"Not having to overcoach," said Macon when asked what his biggest adjustment to the Draft League was. "A lot of these guys here, they just need one tweak here, two tweaks, or no tweaks."
The Cutters will look to continue their dominant pitching going this week, with Billtown concluding a five game home stand Tuesday against State College before a midweek series on the road against the Trenton Thunder.