Justin Wechsler - Baseball Coach - Ball State University Athletics

Justin Wechsler

Title:
Assistant Coach / Pitching Coach
Email:
justin.wechsler@bsu.edu
Phone:
765-285-5131

Justin Wechsler was named the pitching coach in June of 2023. He began his first season as an assistant coach in 2024.

Ball State had a pair of All-Conference pitchers in 2025 under Wechsler's tutelage, as sophomore Keegan Johnson was voted First Team All-MAC, and senior Jacob Hartlaub landed on the Second Team. The Cardinals has the second-best strikeouts per nine innings rate (8.8) in the Mid-American Conference. Wechsler also developed right-handers Garrett Harker and Owen Quinn into one of the top relief duos in the league.

Wechsler developed 2024 Mid-American Conference Pitcher of the Year Merritt Beeker and Freshman Pitcher of the Year Johnson in his first year at the helm. Both were also voted First Team All-MAC, while Beeker's 128 strikeouts were the third-most in a single season in program history. Beeker would later be drafted by the Washington Nationals in the 11th round of the 2024 MLB Draft.

Wechsler is no stranger to Ball State, as he was a pitcher for the Cardinals from 1999-2001. During his time at BSU, he was named a Freshman All-American by Collegiate Baseball and was tabbed to the Baseball America Freshman All-American Second Team. He was voted the Mid-American Conference Freshman of the Year in 1999. He was a two-time All-MAC Second Team honoree and pitched on two teams that won MAC regular season titles (1999 and 2001). The 1999 team was recently inducted into the Ball State Athletics Hall of Fame.

During his 1999 season, Wechsler recorded the most wins by a freshman with 10. His first career win came against Butler on February 27, 1999. He recorded 219 strikeouts across his three-year career at Ball State. He produced a career record of 23-13.

After Ball State, he spent five seasons in the minor leagues with the Arizona Diamondbacks farm system. His best season came in 2004 with Lancaster, where he posted a 4-1 record to go along with 18 saves. During the same season, he tallied 96 strikeouts and finished with a 2.48 ERA in 80 innings of work.

He had spent the last seven years as an area scout for the Chicago White Sox. He drafted former Cardinals, Alex Call in the third round in 2016 and Tyler Schweitzer in the 5th round in 2022.