'It's a great baseball town:' New Tulsa Drillers manager Eric Wedge holds press conference

For the first time in seven years, the Tulsa Drillers will have a new manager. Eric Wedge, a 10-year MLB veteran and 2007 AL Manager of the Year, will take over as the team’s 24th full-time manager, replacing Scott Hennessey, who became the head coach of the Oklahoma City Comets.

Wedge has managed in the majors for a decade, including stints with the Cleveland Indians (2003-2009) and Seattle Mariners (2011-2013), earning 774 career wins.

I mean, I look at this is a tremendous opportunity. I'm grateful for the opportunity and I knew want to get back in the pro ball. Then I decided that I wanted to manage again or I was hoping to have the opportunity to manage again, so what a better place to to start back up from the Dodgers organization? You know, to have the opportunity to be here in Tulsa, it's a great baseball town. You know a great sports town, a great entertainment town with this ballpark. Here and the Texas league are two areas that I've really never spent much time with and I'm looking forward to being a part of it.

Wedge led the Indians to an AL Central Division title in 2007, winning AL Manager of the Year. He later managed the Mariners for three seasons.

Wedge, an All-American catcher at Wichita State, also had a brief MLB playing career with the Boston Red Sox and Colorado Rockies.

He recently coached the Shockers to a 65-61 record from 2020-2022 and has been inducted into 14 halls of fame throughout his career.