SEATTLE -- The Mariners have again promoted one of their longtime front office staples into a more prominent role, elevating Andy McKay to assistant general manager, the club announced on Wednesday.

McKay has been with the organization since Oct. 21, 2015, and was one of the first hires by president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto, working his way up the ladder from director of player development to senior director of player development, a promotion he received last year.

The Mariners hadn’t back-filled their assistant GM post since Justin Hollander was promoted to GM and executive vice president during the final week of the regular season.

“It would be impossible to overstate the impact Andy has made for the Mariners over the past seven years,” Dipoto said in a statement. “His knack for identifying difference making people and cultivating learning environments has been a hallmark of our system since his arrival. His competitiveness, creativity, thirst to learn, talent to teach and a feel for baseball strategies will continue to challenge all of us to improve and grow.”

As assistant GM, McKay will oversee baseball development at all levels, including player and staff development, mental skills and education programs across the organization. He will also oversee director of player development Justin Toole and help advise in roster building, as well as installation of Seattle’s systems and programs on all levels.

The Mariners have long been grooming McKay to become a Major League coach -- and he was in line to take on that role last season until mid-February when director of player development Emanuel Sifuentes left the organization, necessitating McKay to revert back to a player development position. But the club has re-rerouted the trajectory of his role.

McKay was with the Rockies as peak performance coordinator for Colorado’s Minor League system from 2012-16, and before that, he served as the head baseball coach at Sacramento City College for 14 seasons (1999-2012).