SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State has hired former shortstop and two-year captain Joey Hawkins as hitting coach and recruiting coordinator, head coach Keith Guttin announced Monday.
A fan favorite during his time as a Missouri State player, Hawkins spent four seasons with the Bears from 2012-15 and was the Missouri Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Year as a senior. He owns the top two single seasons in school history for sacrifice bunts and assists, holds MSU’s career sacrifice record with 62, and led the NCAA in that category during the Bears’ historic 2015 campaign that saw the team earn the No. 8 national seed and win the Springfield Regional on the way to a school-record 49 victories. He started the final 157 games of his MSU career at shortstop.
“I couldn’t be more excited and thankful for the opportunity Coach Guttin has given my family and I,” Hawkins said. “I can’t wait to give back to a program that gave me so much as a player and I look forward to continuing to build on the winning tradition that MSU baseball has already established.”
After college, Hawkins was drafted by St. Louis in the 40th round and spent two years playing professionally, advancing to the Double-A Springfield Cardinals in 2016. He was also drafted out of high school from Whitby, Ontario.
“Joey approaches coaching the same way he approached the game as a player and creates good chemistry everywhere he goes,” added Guttin. “His experience in professional baseball with the Cardinals will serve him well here, and he will be a dynamite recruiter for our program.”
Hawkins began his collegiate coaching career in 2017 as the recruiting coordinator and hitting coach at Jefferson College in Hillsboro, Mo., and joined the Division I ranks at Saint Louis University later that year in the same capacity.
During the 2018 season at SLU, Hawkins was an instrumental part of the Billikens club that swept the Atlantic 10 regular season and tournament titles and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. He helped the offense lead in the A-10 in scoring, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, RBI and doubles, while the defense posted a .974 fielding percentage.
Hawkins returned to professional baseball in the St. Louis Cardinals organization in 2019, beginning as a hitting coach in the Gulf Coast League, worked as a hitting coordinator at the Cardinals’ alternate site facility in 2020 with some of the organization’s top prospects, and most recently served as hitting coach for the High-A Peoria Chiefs to start the 2021 season.
Hawkins is married to former MSU softball player and three-time all-MVC selection Ashley Brentz, and the couple has one daughter, Kinsley. He graduated from Missouri State with a sports management degree in December 2015.
His hire is contingent on approval by the Missouri State Board of Governors at its next scheduled meeting.
