Former Western Oregon All-American pitcher Grady Wood enters his sixth year as the Wolves' pitching coach in 2024-25.
During his coaching career at WOU, the Wolves have had either the GNAC Pitcher of the Year or Co-GNAC Pitcher of the Year each year (Mike Peterson, 2021; Arturo Alvarez, 2022; Dylan Chalmers, 2023; Arturo Alvarez, 2024). Overall, WOU has had six consecutive conference pitchers of the year - an award Wood earned twice (2011-12) in his career.
During his career at WOU, Wood pitched during the 2011 and 2012 seasons where he went 20-4 overall with a 2.01 ERA in 196.2 innings of work. He had seven complete games, eight total combined shutouts and collected 166 strikeouts to just 34 walks. He had a senior season to remember when he went 12-0 with a 1.69 ERA in 96 innings of work. He appeared in 14 games, had two complete games with five combined shutouts and 89 strikeouts to just 12 walks.
Wood took home multiple accolades following the 2012 season including ABCA/Rawlings NCAA Division II All-American, a NCBWA Division II All-American, Daktronics/D2CCA Division II All-American, NCBWA All-West Region Pitcher of the Year. He was named to the All-GNAC first team in 2011 and 2012 along with earning All-GNAC Pitcher of the Year both seasons. Also in 2011, Wood was tabbed to the ABCA/Rawlings second team, NCBWA All-West Region first team during and, Daktronics/D2CCA All-West Region second team.
Wood was drafted in the 10th round of the 2012 MLB June Amateur Draft by the Seattle Mariners. The Portland native was drafted 311th overall and spent over seven seasons playing professional baseball. Throughout his minor league career, he went 18-12 with a 3.62 ERA in 151 total appearances. He also collected 18 saves and logged 271 innings. He tallied 237 strikeouts while holding opponents to a .245 batting average.
He opened his career strong going 4-0 with a 2.17 ERA in 17 appearances for Everett (Single A Short Season). He played for both High Desert and Clinton during the 2013 season (Mid-A and High-A season) teams where he went 4-5 with a 3.78 ERA combined during both stops. He remained with High-A High Desert in 2014 where he went 6-4 with a 3.29 ERA. He later advanced to Double-A during the 2015 season after spending time with both Bakersfield (High A) and Jackson (Double-A). He went 4-3 combined with the two teams with a 4.58 ERA. He performed well in Jackson going 4-2.
Wood then played three seasons of Independent Baseball for New Britain and two seasons with Sioux Falls where he went 12-7 overall with a 3.37 ERA in 181.2 innings of work. He also added a save and held a solid 157 strikeout to just 46 walk ratio.
