Former Wichita State, MLB pitcher Mike Pelfrey hired as high school baseball coach at KMC

Former Major League Baseball pitcher Mike Pelfrey, who was also an All-American at Wichita State, has been hired as the high school baseball coach at Kapaun Mt. Carmel, the school announced on Tuesday morning.

Pelfrey has worked the past five years as Wichita State’s pitching coach under three different head coaches but decided to move on when the program transitioned to new head coach Brian Green.

Now he will become a head coach for the first time back in the City League, where he was once a star pitcher for Wichita Heights during his high school days.

“We are excited to have such a high caliber coach as Mike leading our baseball program,” Kapaun athletic director John Heise said in a statement. “From his experience playing baseball at the highest level and then moving on to coaching, we know he will do great things here at KMC.”

Pelfrey is best known in Wichita for his standout career at WSU, where he was a two-time All-American and two-time Missouri Valley Conference Pitcher of the Year.

In 2005, he was drafted in the first round by the New York Mets and played 12 seasons in MLB with the Mets, Minnesota Twins, Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox. After retiring, Pelfrey was a volunteer coach at Newman University before being hired by WSU as a pitching coach in 2019.

Pelfrey has been inducted in the Wichita State, Wichita Sports, Kansas Baseball and Kansas Sports Halls of Fame.

“Thank you to the KMC administration and family for giving me this opportunity,” Pelfrey said in a statement. “I am excited to have the chance to develop young people and make a difference in their lives. I look forward to helping these young men reach new heights on and off the field.”