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Ty Blankmeyer Named to Baseball Coaching Staff
7/21/2022 1:56:00 PM | Baseball
DURHAM – Duke baseball head coach Chris Pollard announced Thursday the hiring of Ty Blankmeyer as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. Blankmeyer comes to Durham after one year on the staff at Wake Forest.
The product of a baseball family, Blankmeyer was a four-year standout at St. John's, was drafted, played professionally, and began his post-playing career in player development with the Cincinnati Reds and later as an area scout with the Milwaukee Brewers from 2017-21.
"On behalf of our coaching staff and players, I am thrilled to welcome Ty to Duke," said Pollard. "To say he was born to coach would be an understatement. Ty grew up in and around the college game. He was a tremendous player at St. John's, played professionally and followed that with significant time in Major League Baseball as a professional scout. He now possesses experience coaching in the ACC and brings a diverse set of experiences and a unique coaching skill set to our program.
Blankmeyer was a middle infielder at St. John's from 2012-16, where he helped lead the program to the Big East regular-season and tournament titles in 2015 under his father, Ed – the winningest coach in St. John's history with 829 victories. Ed now manages the Brooklyn Cyclones in the New York-Penn League. Ty's grandfather, Mike Sheppard Sr., was a legendary baseball coach at Seton Hall, winning 998 games, making 10 NCAA Tournament appearances and two College World Series runs.
"I am so excited to be part of the Duke Baseball family," said Blankmeyer. "I'm looking forward to developing relationships with the future, past and present Blue Devils. Coach Pollard has built this into an elite program, and I can't wait to help continue that growth."
In his one year on the staff at Wake Forest as the volunteer assistant coach, Blankmeyer was instrumental in the team's base running and fielding improvements. Wake finished sixth in the ACC with a .973 fielding percentage, eight spots higher than the Demon Deacons' finish the year prior.
The 2022 season saw Wake Forest win 41 games -- the fifth most in program history – and increase its win total by 21 games (41 wins to 20 wins), the largest year-to-year turnaround in program history. The season culminated with the program's 14th appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
Blankmeyer was selected by the Cincinnati Reds in the 2016 MLB Draft and hit .280 in the Pioneer League before stepping into a player development role with the franchise at the Arizona Complex League (AZL), working alongside Jose Nieves and Barry Larkin. From there, he moved to the Milwaukee Brewers where he managed all scouting responsibilities in the Northeast region for five seasons. In 2021, Blankmeyer signed the Brewers' No. 1 pick, Sal Frelick, who starred at Boston College.
The native of Morristown, N.J., received a degree in Communications from St. John's in 2016.
#GoDuke
The product of a baseball family, Blankmeyer was a four-year standout at St. John's, was drafted, played professionally, and began his post-playing career in player development with the Cincinnati Reds and later as an area scout with the Milwaukee Brewers from 2017-21.
"On behalf of our coaching staff and players, I am thrilled to welcome Ty to Duke," said Pollard. "To say he was born to coach would be an understatement. Ty grew up in and around the college game. He was a tremendous player at St. John's, played professionally and followed that with significant time in Major League Baseball as a professional scout. He now possesses experience coaching in the ACC and brings a diverse set of experiences and a unique coaching skill set to our program.
Blankmeyer was a middle infielder at St. John's from 2012-16, where he helped lead the program to the Big East regular-season and tournament titles in 2015 under his father, Ed – the winningest coach in St. John's history with 829 victories. Ed now manages the Brooklyn Cyclones in the New York-Penn League. Ty's grandfather, Mike Sheppard Sr., was a legendary baseball coach at Seton Hall, winning 998 games, making 10 NCAA Tournament appearances and two College World Series runs.
"I am so excited to be part of the Duke Baseball family," said Blankmeyer. "I'm looking forward to developing relationships with the future, past and present Blue Devils. Coach Pollard has built this into an elite program, and I can't wait to help continue that growth."
In his one year on the staff at Wake Forest as the volunteer assistant coach, Blankmeyer was instrumental in the team's base running and fielding improvements. Wake finished sixth in the ACC with a .973 fielding percentage, eight spots higher than the Demon Deacons' finish the year prior.
The 2022 season saw Wake Forest win 41 games -- the fifth most in program history – and increase its win total by 21 games (41 wins to 20 wins), the largest year-to-year turnaround in program history. The season culminated with the program's 14th appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
Blankmeyer was selected by the Cincinnati Reds in the 2016 MLB Draft and hit .280 in the Pioneer League before stepping into a player development role with the franchise at the Arizona Complex League (AZL), working alongside Jose Nieves and Barry Larkin. From there, he moved to the Milwaukee Brewers where he managed all scouting responsibilities in the Northeast region for five seasons. In 2021, Blankmeyer signed the Brewers' No. 1 pick, Sal Frelick, who starred at Boston College.
The native of Morristown, N.J., received a degree in Communications from St. John's in 2016.
#GoDuke
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