Baseball returns to Tulsa: Drillers open season with new manager Eric Wedge

Baseball is back in Tulsa. It's the Drillers' season opener at Oneok Field on Friday. 

For the first time in seven seasons, players will have a new manager in the dugout when they take the field.

A manager who’s been there before 

For the first time in more than a decade, Eric Wedge will suit up to manage a professional baseball club, the Tulsa Drillers.

"I knew that I wanted to get back in, I knew I wanted to manage,” said Eric Wedge, Tulsa Drillers Manager. 

The 2025 Drillers got a skipper with a strong resume.

Wedge spent 10 seasons managing two major league teams, the Cleveland Indians and Seattle Mariners.

He was 34 when he was named manager of the Cleveland Indians, now called the Guardians. 

In 2002, he became the youngest manager in MLB history.

 A few seasons later, he was named the American League Manager of the Year.

Wedge said, “I was very young…I learned from so many people, you know, with so much experience that were older than me at that point in time. Now, being a little bit older, it's just a great opportunity for me to get back in."

A new beginning in a familiar place 

Even though Eric Wedge has 10 years under his belt as a major league manager, he feels like this new opportunity is a new start for him in baseball with the Tulsa Drillers.

"I'm not the same person I was, you know, three years ago, two years ago, even one year ago, so I'm here to serve, you know, I want to serve the game. I want to serve players. I want to serve the organization,” said Wedge.

A coaching style with proven success 

Wedge says serving players means offering a positive perspective that he says allows him to connect with players on a deeper level.

"You want them to be successful, both on and off the field, but their personal journey is more important than their professional journey. So, if we can use baseball as a tool to help them, along with that, I think that's the greatest gift that we can give them."

Starting over with a goal in mind 

His goal is to get back to the big leagues, and Wedge says Tulsa is the perfect place to do that.

"When you talk about the fans coming out, it's a fantastic experience there. And I think it's just going to be more, so baseball is on the rise. Baseball players are on the rise. I think the city of Tulsa is on the rise,” said Wedge.