Courtesy of Kansas State Athletics
MANHATTAN, Kan. - K-State head baseball coach Pete Hughes has announced the promotion of Austin Wates to Associate Head Coach on Tuesday.
"Austin is quite deserving of this promotion, "said Hughes. "He carries the responsibilities of a trailblazer in a sport where black coaches are alarmingly underrepresented. He always does this with composure grace and integrity.""He has become a great role model for all young coaches. More importantly, he has established himself as one of the best offensive minds in college baseball and a tireless recruiter. We are so fortunate that the Wates family are part of our program ad community moving forward," added Hughes. With the primary focus on hitters, outfielders, and baserunners in addition to recruiting responsibilities, Wates concluded his fifth season with K-State where he helped guide the Wildcats to their third consecutive run in the Big 12 Baseball Championship semifinals.In 2023, Wates' offense generated top 10 performances in five K-State offensive categories: home runs (77 – 3rd), stolen bases (114 – 5th), walks (340 – 3rd), sacrifice flies (34 – T-4th), and runs batted in (379 – 9th).The Wildcats 340 walks ranked 13th in the final Division I standings, including five straight weeks as the national leader from March 22 to April 24, while finishing 19th in stolen bases."I am extremely grateful for the opportunity Coach Hughes has given me to help grow this program," Wates said on his recent promotion. "Both Gene Taylor and Casey Scott have been unrelenting in their support of our ultimate goal which is to be a national brand. This promotion puts a lot of faith and trust in me, and I will never take that for granted. I couldn't be more excited about where the program is headed and what we are building here."Under the guidance of Wates, K-State's offense has turned in four of the top eight seasons in terms of total home runs in program history, including a single-season record 89 in 2021. The 89 bombs ranked 11th in the nation and shattered the previous record of 75 set in 1997.In five seasons, K-State has had six position players taken in the MLB Draft with Will Brennan (Cleveland), Zach Kokoska (Colorado), Dylan Phillips (Los Angeles (AL)), Dominic Johnson (Detroit), Nick Goodwin (Toronto) and Brady Day (Atlanta).On April 2, 2022, Phillips launched a pair of home runs against Oklahoma State to become K-State's all-time home run leader, breaking the previous mark that stood since 1997. He totaled 44 home runs in his career while his 16 home runs in his junior campaign matched the single-season record.In Wates' initial season, Brennan became the fifth Wildcat taken in the eighth round as he was drafted No. 250 overall by the Guardians in the 2019 MLB Draft. Brennan made his major league debut with Cleveland on Sept. 21, 2022, going 2-for-4 with an RBI single. He was the nation's toughest hitter to strike out in 2019 at 18.6 at-bats per strikeout. Brennan led the Big 12 in the statistical category for three straight seasons and finished his career with a .332 batting average.Wates, who played under Hughes at Virginia Tech from 2007-10, spent two seasons working for the Seattle Mariners as an area scout in South Texas prior to his time at K-State. Wates' strong relationships in the region have made an incredible impact on the Wildcats' recruiting.With the Mariners, Wates was responsible for identifying and evaluating prospective players at both the collegiate and high school levels in the South Texas region. In the 2018 MLB Draft, Seattle selected two players from his area, including right-handed pitcher Nolan Hoffman (5th round) from Texas A&M and Rice outfielder Cody Staab (30th round).Wates was a third-round selection (No. 90 overall) by the Houston Astros in the 2010 First-Year Player Draft following his junior year. In three seasons for the Hokies, Wates had a career average of .367 while leading the team in steals all three seasons, totaling 49 career steals.The 6-foot-1 utility player hit 15 home runs and drove in 129 runs in his time with VT and was a preseason all-America selection in 2010 by both Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball, helping the Hokies to an NCAA Regional berth in 2010 – their first since 2000.In six seasons in the minor leagues, Wates produced a career slash line of .288/.362/.391 alongside 19 homers and 199 RBI. He quickly climbed the minor-league ladder, as he spent his last three professional seasons at the Triple-A level, both in the Astros (Oklahoma City) and Miami Marlins (New Orleans) organizations. In 2014, he was named the Pacific Coast League's Best Baserunner after leading the league with 37 stolen bases. Wates was also named a Class-AA All-Star in 2012 while with Corpus Christi.A native of Richmond, Virginia, Wates completed his Bachelor of Science in Sociology from Virginia Tech in December of 2017. Watts and his wife, Christine, have one daughter, Grace, and two sons, Carter and Walker.