As football season has come to an end, the fresh-cut grass, the beaming sun, and the pop of the glove can heard in Florida as MLB's spring training is around the corner. 

Heading into his fourth season, Isiah McDonald is excited and grateful for another year as a strength and conditioning coach and sports massage therapist with the New York Yankees organization.

The Vancouver-born, Grand Forks-raised, and now Kelowna native fell in love with the game at a young age, playing his first season in the Lower Mainland when he was eight years old before he and his family moved to Grand Forks. He went on to play in Grand Forks and Trail before playing high school ball in Kamloops. He later moved to Kelowna but returned to Kamloops as he recognized it as a better opportunity for playing ball. After high school, McDonald stayed in Kamloops as he was accepted into Thompson Rivers University (TRU) and on its baseball team. 

"Sports has always been big for me, built a lot of friendships, a lot of family members pretty much for sports," said McDonald. 

He became a sports massage therapist after dealing with back issues throughout his collegiate career, which turned into fractured vertebrae and arthritis. He wanted to recover his body properly and learn about the human body and how complex it is so he could help others while staying involved in the game he loves.

"If you understand the principles of movement and the anatomy, you can help a lot of people," added McDonald. "The game's bigger, fastest, stronger than it has ever been... so my line of work is sort of directly correlated with that."

After spending time with the Yankees Florida Coast League team (where the team won the  when he was there) and the Single-A team, McDonald spent 2024 at Double-A in Somerset, New Jersey and is expected to be there again for the 2025 season. 

"This past season was awesome, Double-A has been my favourite level so far," said McDonald. "[The players are] really hungry to get there, so they appreciate all the knowledge and the detail." 

The team was down in the standings by six games but came back to win the second half of the season, but eventually lost in the Double-A finals.

Despite there being a Triple-A level, most top prospects make the jump from Double-A to the big leagues as they make their way up the ranks.

"They're so close, they're very self-motivated and eager to work," added McDonald. 

For the 28-year-old, his job is to prep the players for playing baseball every day for six straight months.

"We get them bigger, faster, stronger," said McDonald.

During the season, McDonald arrives at the field at about 10 a.m. for a 7 p.m. game. He starts his preparation for the day tailored to the specific needs of every player on the team. As the players begin to arrive between 12 p.m. and 1 p.m., they'll meet with McDonald for a quick warm-up and prep or weight lift, depending on the day, as he makes sure the players are taken care of and getting the proper nutrition. 

When it comes to seeing players moving up the ranks of the minor leagues on their way to MLB, McDonald said, "It's pretty special." And, the same goes for him, as he's moved up alongside many of the same players in the last four years.

"To watch them come out of college and then evolve as a human and as a player, it's really fulfilling," added McDonald. "Just getting to see how those guys go about their business and getting to interact and help those guys where needed was really fun."

At the start of the 2024 season during spring training, McDonald was told he would be at the Double-A level and working closer with the big league side of the organization, including stars like outfielders Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, pitcher Gerrit Cole, and the entire major league roster.

"They're humans just like all of us," said McDonald, adding he grew up watching some of the players he's now working with. 

In baseball, the minor league baseball season ends before the MLB season which meant McDonald's season finished before the Yankees playoff run, in which they went to the World Series in late October for the first time since 2009. When the team reached the championship, the franchise reached out to all full-time employees and invited them to the home games of the series, something that McDonald said he would attend right away.

"Everyone you worked hard with all year is at the game kind of watching the fruits of your labour and taking it in so it was a phenomenal experience," explained McDonald.

He attended games four and five of the series, seeing the Yankees win game four but lose the series in game five.

McDonald said while he and everyone involved with the team are in the trenches during the season, the offseason is the time to grow mentally.

Even though the big league team and the Double-A teams had great seasons, they didn't complete the ultimate goal of winning a championship. While having some more time to himself than in past offseasons, McDonald used his time to continue to learn more about the human body. He was able to visit orthopedic surgeon Dr. Scott Hughes in Kamloops to learn about surgeries and recoveries involving shoulders and ACLs and with Dr. Stu McGill, who specializes in spine biomechanics and has published many books about back pain, proper body mechanics, injury prevention and rehabilitation.

And, while McDonald was able to return to Kelowna this winter, he said he does not miss the cold and snow, as he headed back to Florida in December to get ready for spring training.

Spring training is underway for the Yankees their opening day is on Thursday, Mar. 27 against the Milwaukee Brewers at Yankee Stadium. McDonald and the Somerset Patriots open the Double-A season on Friday, Apr. 4.