For Immediate Release
January 16, 2013
We are pleased to announce changes in the baseball coaching staff for the 2013 season. The program is returning to the field for the 2013 season on February 1st at home at 3pm. We are following up a successful 2012 season that saw the Coyotes reach the NJCAA region I play-offs while having the NJCAA name Tyler Hollick the Rawlings division II national player of the year.
Ben Taylor, a second year assistant has been named the Associate Head Baseball Coach. Coach Taylor has been the hitting coach for the Coyotes for the last year and a half and has shown great leadership and initiative. His last 4 off-seasons have been spent in East Texas leading the East Texas Pumpjacks to the Texas Collegiate League title last summer. He has recently been named the Head Coach for the Matsu Miners in the Alaska Baseball League. This is one of the premier college summer leagues and has a long storied tradition of honing the careers of many big league players. He was previously an assistant coach at Scottsdale Community College and Phoenix Community College.
Jon Watson has been named Pitching Coach after working primarily with the infield play in the 2012 season. He still works closely with the infielders while taking in the bulk of the pitching duties. He came to us after a long and very successful high school coaching career in the east valley. He was the head coach at Chandler, Queen Creek and Poston Butte. In 2007 and 2009 he earned Fiesta Region Coach of the year. John works with BBC during the summers as the lead instructor for a local baseball program that both develops and places high school players across the country.
Ricky Wilson ’08 will continue as the Bench Coach while working as our primary catching coach. He will continue to develop the strong catching tradition at CG. His 3 catchers last year are all on Division I rosters this year.
Dave Pankenier will continue to serve as the Recruiting Coordinator for the Coyotes. His recruiting classes have garnered national attention in recent years with Baseball America and in our region. He is also the Director of BBC Baseball and works as a scout in the area for an MLB team.