High Point University Athletic Director Dan Hauser announced the hiring of Joey Hammond as the head coach of High Point’s baseball program on June 17, 2021. He becomes the fourth head coach in HPU’s Division I era and the eighth skipper in program history.
In Hammond's third season with the Panthers, he made history as they won their first Big South Tournament Championship in program history as they clinched a spot in the NCAA Tournament. With a 35-27 overall record, and a 17-7 record in the Big South, the High Point Panthers set a new record for most wins in a single season in the Division I era. As well as breaking the previous home run single season record at 75, the Panthers hit a total of 92 homers. During the Clemson Regional, HPU beat Vanderbilt on a walk-off to secure its first NCAA Regional victory as well as their second SEC win in program history. The Panthers had six student-athletes named to Big South All-Conference Teams. Adam Stuart was tabbed with Scholar-Athlete of the Year for his performance on and off the field. Cael Chatham, Gus Hughes, Eric Grintz, and Peyton Carr all earned First Team All-Conference honors, while Chatham also earned Second Team All-Conference for his outings in relief. Matt Little and Stuart were listed as Honorable Mention All-Conference. Grintz was also named the Big South Tournament MVP.
In his second season with the Panthers, he continued to produce a solid team with a record of 20-34, with four athletes named to Big South all conference teams. Brett Ahalt, Cael Chatham and Gus Hughes, all named to second team all conference. Adam Stuart, was named Big South scholar athlete of the year. The Panthers went 12-15 during conference play, completing a three game sweep twice against Radford and Charleston Southern University.
In Hammond's first season with the Panthers, he guided the team to an overall record of 23-33, to record the program's first 20+ wins since the 2019 season. In the Big South, the team registered a 14-10 record to finish fourth in the league. Making it to the conference tournament for the first time since 2019, the Panthers were knocked out early by No. 5 Charleston Southern and No. 3 UNC Asheville. Following the completion of the regular season, four players under Hammond were named to the Big South All-Conference team. Sam Garcia led the way for HPU, recognized as a First Team All-Conference member as a starting pitcher. Sean Duffy was recognized on the Second Team as a reliever while Adam Stuart received Honorable Mention honors as an infielder while also being named to the All-Academic team. Right-handed pitcher Everett Vaughan was also named to the seven-man All-Freshman team.
Hammond spent the last seven seasons in the Triad as a volunteer assistant coach at Wake Forest where he worked with hitting and the outfielders. He guided 17 Demon Deacon hitters to All-ACC honors during his tenure and saw eight players recognized as All-Americans in his seven years.
Hammond developed the Wake Forest offense into one of the nation’s best, culminating in a 43-20 season in 2017 where the Demon Deacons finished one game away from advancing to the College World Series. That season, Wake Forest ranked in the top 20 in the country in batting average, on base percentage, doubles, runs, runs per game, walks, hits, slugging percentage, and home runs after becoming the first Division I school in the country to hit 100 home runs in the BBCOR bat era with a nation-leading 106 homers.
Prior to joining Wake Forest, Hammond was the head coach at Westchester Country Day School here in High Point for five seasons. He led the Wildcats to the NCISAA 2A Final Four all five years and won three state championships. He compiled a 104-31-1 record at Westchester Country Day and had 14 graduates go on to play collegiate baseball.
Hammond played 11 years professionally before getting into coaching and was drafted in the 25th round of the 1998 MLB Draft by the Baltimore Orioles, spending eight seasons with the O’s organization and three in the Philadelphia Phillies farm system. His final eight seasons of his playing career were spent at the AA and AAA levels and he played at least 100 games at each infield position and over 150 games in the outfield. Hammond ended his career with a .274 batting average with over 1,100 hits and was named to the Reading Phillies (AA) 2000s All-Decade Team.
No stranger to the Tar Heel State, Hammond earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from Charlotte, where he was a shortstop on the 49ers from 1996-98. He was a two-time All-Conference USA All-Tournament Team member and was named First Team All-Conference USA in 1998 after batting .398 with 100 hits.
A native of Frederick, Maryland, he was inducted into the YMCA of Frederick County Hall of Fame in 2019. Hammond currently resides in Greensboro with his wife Rebecca and three sons, Caleb, Josh, and Mason.
