Have glove, will travel
Former OSU baseballer Joey Wong has seamlessly moved from player to coach
He was once in the spotlight on one of America’s biggest baseball stages. But former Sprague High School standout Joey Wong is at peace with the current stage of his athletics life—as the first-year manager of a wood-bat baseball team for collegiate players.
In 2007, Wong was buried under the pile of Beaver players in Omaha, Nebraska, after the Beavs won their second straight College World Series. It was a great moment to frame in his personal history.
The 34-year old Wong then toiled for ten years in the professional baseball ranks, standing on the precipice of a big-league appearance. Four times—twice with the Colorado Rockies, once with the Seattle Mariners, and once with the New York Mets—Joey was playing triple-A baseball, with hopes of getting a shot in the big leagues. But the chance never materialized.
“It was a great ride,” recalls Wong with a smile in his voice.
“It just wasn’t my time. I had a blast playing all over the place. I have no regrets.”
Wong did indeed play many places. For the Rockies organization, which drafted him in 2009, he started with the Tri City (WA) Dust Devils of the Northwest League. I had the honor of calling a few of his games when the Devils played the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes that season. A great glove to be sure. Batting was still a work in progress. But it didn’t keep Joey’s spirits down. Wong spent time at Asheville, North Carolina, Modesto, California, and Tulsa, Oklahoma. He had two shots at the bigs from AAA Albuquerque in 2015 and 2016.
Wong also had a stint in Tacoma (AAA) with the Mariners, and in Las Vegas (AAA) with the Mets. Still close, but no cigar for the former Beavers infielder.
Wedged into Joey’s resume’ are a couple of memorable international stints. The first was down under—where Wong became a fan favorite of Aussies everywhere as the shortstop for the Australian Baseball League’s Perth Heat. Joey’s best years in his three seasons there were in 2013-14, when he hit .290, and in 2014-15, when he topped off at .301 at the plate.
Joey also became a part of Aussie baseball lore, winning the ABL Championship Series MVP in 2013-14 as the Heat won the first of two straight coveted Claxton Shields—the Aussie version of the World Series trophy. Joey compares Aussie baseball to some good double-A baseball in the states.
The other international experience involved Joey’s time with the Chinese National team for the World Baseball Classic. Wong and two other Chinese-Americans joined forces with native Chinese players to take on top players from Japan, Cuba, and Australia in the first round of the Classic. Joey says he got to interact with former Perth Heat teammates, who had the decidedly better team when the two squads squared off. Still, he says it was quite the experience to play in the Tokyo Dome in front of thousands of enthusiastic Japanese baseball fans.
For two seasons, Joey was a graduate assistant baseball coach at Oregon State, but that experience was tainted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which shutdown the entire 2020 baseball season. Joey’s own academic success shutdown any further undergraduate assistant coaching the next year, as he received his own bachelor’s degree in Human Development and Family Sciences.
Still, Wong did make a brief, but special connection with Travis Bazzana, one of three Oregon State freshmen to win frosh All-American honors from Collegiate Magazine.
“I got to meet Bazzana when he made a visit to the campus in Corvallis,” recalls Wong.
“It was a blast to learn that Travis had watched me play for Perth a few years back.”
These days, Wong has moved on from Corvallis physically, if not in his heart. He served this past year as a volunteer assistant at Seattle University, where the Redhawks are redeveloping a baseball program that started back up in 2010. Joey got the volunteer job thanks in part to head coach Donny Harrel’s close ties to his father, David. Joey Wong is happy to be a part of the Seattle U learning process.
“We struggled on the field, but a lot of progress was made,” says Wong.
“The staff is amazing…. (Coach) Donny Harrel is great. We (the family) are planning to be there in year two.”
For now, Joey Wong is focused on improving the playing skills of his just graduated high schoolers and young college baseball players as part of the Bend Elks and the West Coast League—considered the best wood bat league outside of the legendary Cape Cod League. Ironically, Joey played one season for Bend, then moved to the Cape Cod League for two summers.
Wong enjoys the summer challenge of preparing his players for the next level. His young charges were going through some weight-based workouts at the Yakima, Washington YMCA when we talked. After one more game in Yakima, the Elks players and coaches will load up for a three hours-plus bus ride to Longview, Washington and yet another series of games.
Joey sounds like the enthusiastic coach that he is in assessing his talent in Bend.
“We have guys from all over the place—Northwest college players—Beavers, Portland Pilots, one WSU Cougar, and JC players form Linn-Benton, Mt. Hood and (Washington’s) Pierce College,” says Wong as he lists off his roster from memory.
“I am forming relationships, figuring out how I can relate to the players. Good communication is the key. I hope we keep playing well and make the post season. Once you do that, anything can happen.”
As for final thoughts about Oregon State, Wong is happy with how his career turned out and how the Beavers have distinguished themselves at the next level.
“We had (pitchers) Mike Stutes, Joe Patterson… Tyler Graham, who is assisting here in Bend… lots of Beavs in the show.” And more have followed since Wong’s departure. Adly Rutschman is the most recent big-leaguer with Baltimore.
And as for this year’s inaugural Pac-12 Baseball Tournament? Joey certainly likes the idea, if not the execution when it came to the length of games in Scottsdale, Arizona.
“I am sure planning (for the tournament) will be different going forward. I love the idea of it (tournament), but more planning will definitely help.”
Sounds just like the always up-beat Joey Wong that many of us have grown to love.
Of note: Joey’s dad, David, is still in the dugout, coaching the Salem Senators of the Mavericks League, which was established after the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes were removed from minor league baseball two years ago. David Wong was the longtime coach for Salem’s Willamette University.
Also of note: Joey Wong won two straight Oregon sports titles his 2004-2005 school year, first as quarterback for Sprague’s 6A championship football team (30-27 over Lake Oswego), and as shortstop for the Olympians’ 6A baseball title team (2-0 over West Linn).
Great story and athlete! Thanks