Greg Byron brings experience from all levels of baseball as he begins his third season on the Governors coaching staff as its assistant and pitching coach.
In his first season at APSU, Byron helped the Govs pitching staff post significant improvements in strikeouts and walks allowed. Austin Peay’s strikeout-to-walk ratio jumped over 70 spots nationally from the previous year, ending the season ranked 91st with a 2.05 ratio. That was largely due to a more than 70-spot improvement in walks allowed as well as a 40-spot improvement nationally in strikeouts per nine innings.
Byron joined Austin Peay after two seasons as a coach at the Triple-A level. Byron worked in the Minnesota Twins organization with the Rochester Red Wings during the 2015 season. He was with the St. Louis Cardinals organization in 2014 as an assistant with the Memphis Redbirds.
Prior to his time as a coach and scout in the minor leagues, Byron was a volunteer assistant at both Iowa and Central Arkansas. While at Iowa he worked with program’s catchers and assisted pitching coach Scott Brickman.
Byron’s time at Central Arkansas saw him help the team to the 2013 NCAA Tournament as a volunteer assistant/pitching coach. The Bears, who recorded a program-record 42 wins, won the Southland Conference Tournament as the seventh seed by capturing five consecutive elimination games.
The Bears went on to post a 3-2 Starkville Regional record, forcing an elimination game for the regional championship against Mississippi State after eliminating South Alabama and Mercer. UCA finished the year ranked No. 25 in the Collegiate Baseball poll.
Three Central Arkansas players were selected in the 2013 MLB First-Year Player Draft, including left-handed pitcher Jeffery Enloe, who was taken in the 37th round by the San Diego Padres.
Following the 2013 season, Byron served as the pitching coach for the Thunder Bay Border Cats in the Northwoods Prospects League. He has also served as associate head coach/pitching coordinator for the Ontario Blue Jays (18U) from 2008-12, and was a graduate assistant at Bethany (Kan.) College in 2008-09.
Byron also attended Scout School for the Toronto Blue Jays in 2011, threw batting practice for the MLB Pre-Draft Camp at the Rogers Centre in 2010 and assisted in gathering information for the Blue Jays’ draft-eligible collection in 2009-10.
Byron played professional baseball from 2009-11, playing for the Lake Erie Crushers (2009), Quebec Les Capitales and Washington Wild Things (2010) and New York Federals (2011).
After a junior college stint at Cerro Coso Junior College, Byron spent two years in the state of Kansas. He played his junior season at Kansas Wesleyan in 2007 and posted an 8-3 record as part of a Coyotes team that won the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference regular-season title. Byron then transferred to Bethany College where he posted an 11-1 record during his senior campaign and led NAIA with a 1.30 ERA. He was a 2008 NAIA All-American and named a Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference first-team all-conference and first-team All-Region IV selection.
Byron earned his bachelor degree in business management from Bethany College in 2015 after completing his associate’s degree at Cerro Coso Junior College.
