Wow, love this hire. I don't read much A's beat coverage but have come across McWilliams on the Athletic more than once. He took part in a fun offseason piece where Athletic baseball writers tried basic MLB skills (running to first, batted ball speed, etc) to benchmark average person ability against the worst MLB talent. McWilliams served as the "average Joe but more athletic" representative since he played independent ball in the recent past, and his tangential recollection of his time there was what stood out to me in the article.
He also wrote about JBJ
during last year's playoffs and weaved in his own perspective from when their paths occasionally crossed earlier in their careers. It was a good, different piece. This is a nice hire for the Globe, I am looking forward to it, and I hope they give him leeway to write unconventional stories once in a while like The Athletic does for their writers.