Wong is back at Oregon State

Former Sprague HS and OSU star to join the Beaver coaching staff

Joey Wong is back in Corvallis.  The former Sprague High School star who helped the Olympians to a state baseball crown, and was part of the 2007 World Series title team for Oregon State, has been hired as an assistant coach for the Beavers.

Joey Wong is returning to Oregon State—as a coach.

The news was announced Friday by OSU head coach Mitch Canham, and confirmed by Joey.

“Mitch gave me a call a week and a half or two weeks ago to talk about applying,” says Wong.

“I interviewed last week… and it has all happened so fast.”

Wong has served the last two seasons as an assistant coach at Seattle University in Washington.  He also has been coaching the Bend Elks summer league squad.  He says while it is bittersweet to depart from Seattle where he had made so many positive connections, he and the entire family are excited to return to Beaver baseball.

“It is an amazing opportunity to set down some roots and be there (in Corvallis) for more than a couple of years,” says Wong with enthusiasm.

“I want to keep the ball rolling for Oregon State baseball.”

Wong says the recent loss of school members in the Pac 12, to just a handful is disappointing, and he plans to “give everything” he can, regardless of the league situation.

After guiding Sprague High School to a state football crown as quarterback in 2004, and a baseball championship that next spring in 2005, Joey came to Oregon State as a sure-handed shortstop.  He was part of the 2007 title squad that was the second national championship in as many years for the team coached by Pat Casey. He and current coach Mitch Canham were team mates.

Canham expressed his excitement about Wong’s addition to his staff in an OSU press release.

“Joey has always done a tremendous job working with student-athletes,” says Canham.

“We push our players to be professionals in all they do, and Joey does the same, and then some.”

Wong played in 175 games for OSU, and started 162 of them.  He hit .262 for his career, scoring 114 runs, while pounding out 20 doubles, five triples, and six home runs.  He also had 80 RBIs and seven steals.

Wong was a popular player for the Perth Heat in Australia for a couple of seasons. Photo courtesy of Heat Baseball

Joey was drafted by the Colorado Rockies in 2009, playing in 817 pro games.  He began his career in the Northwest League, playing for Tri City, Washington.  He reached the triple-A level, most recently playing for Las Vegas in 2018. Wong also played for China in the World Baseball Classic in 2017, and was a popular player for the city of Perth in Australian Baseball, earning MVP honors in the Australian League’s championship series in in 2014.

This is Wong’s second stint with the Beavers.  He was an undergraduate assistant in 2020, and worked with the Beavs as they advanced to the NCAA Fort Worth Regional in 2021.

Joey says he, his wife and daughter appear to have found a residence in Corvallis, and hope to move down from Seattle very soon.

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