Bio: Austin Alexander
-Austin Alexander- Austin Alexander has been back in the Palmetto State since 2006 after spending three years at Elon University as the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator. Before joining the Phoenix, Alexander served as pitching coach and recruiting coordinator at Spartanburg Methodist College for three seasons. Prior to that stint, he spent one year apiece at Charleston Southern University and James Island High School in Charleston, SC. Alexander also spent eight summers as a coach with the South Carolina Diamond Devils, an elite AAU team based out of Charleston, SC. Alexander re-joined the Diamond Devils baseball program as a coach during the summer and fall of 2006-2007. He returned to coach the 18U team in 2008. He was named a charter member of the Diamond Devil Hall of Fame in 2023. All totaled, Alexander has coached and/or signed 63 pitchers and 54 position players that have been selected in the MLB draft, including eight in the 1st Round. He presently has 4 players still playing some form of professional baseball and twelve have reached the Major Leagues. MLB Players Alexander’s recruiting placed two teams in the NJCAA World Series (2001, 2003) while at Spartanburg Methodist and had two nationally recognized recruiting classes at Elon by Collegiate Baseball. His Phoenix also won the 2006 Southern Conference regular season championship and received an at-large bid into an NCAA Regional. Alexander began as an associate scout with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2005-2020 under the late Hall of Famer Lon Joyce. Then an associate scout with the Atlanta Braves and area supervisor Billy Best 2021-2023. He recently accepted the same role with Aaron Jersild and the Philadelphia Phillies in January of 2024. Presiding over Diamond Prospects for the 20th year, Alexander is proud to include that the DP resume now boasts of having all but one out of 78 high school draftees from the Classes of 2007-2024 as alumni at previous events. Overall, 223 event alumni have been drafted, 29 Big Leaguers… To view alumni, click here. Starting in 2010, Alexander became a nationally accredited voter for ESPN’s Gatorade Athlete of the Year which is celebrated at the ESPY’s, this honor came after three seasons of selecting our state’s baseball winner. Alexander graduated from the College of Charleston in 1997 receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications-Mass Media and a minor in Psychology. He also earned an Associate of Arts degree from Spartanburg Methodist in 1995. While at C of C, Alexander also served two years as the president of the Student-Athlete Advisory Board, reporting directly to the president and athletic director of The College. Alexander played baseball at Spartanburg Methodist College and the College of Charleston where he set each school’s single-season and career win records as a right-handed pitcher. While each feat has fallen by the wayside recently, he still holds the CofC mark for most innings thrown in one game (10). He also continues to lay claim as being a two-time All-Star and throwing a record 87.1 innings as a member of the Cohocton Red Wings in the New York Collegiate League, still an NCAA summer record. A little known fact about Alexander, he had a cameo appearance in “Major League 3: Back to the Minors”. The movie was filmed in Charleston, SC where he lived at the time. Alexander had three scenes in the movie as an opposing pitcher for the Riverdogs. Alexander, 50, is an avid baseball fan, historian of the game, collector of the National Pastime plus a huge follower of the Chicago Cubs and Green Bay Packers. But his favorite thing to do is spending time with his family doing whatever they choose and watching his sons play baseball. On July 14, 2001, the Spartanburg, SC native married the former Rita Richardson of Conway, SC, she is a 6th grade Math teacher. The couple are parents of two sons, Nolan who was born on November 2, 2005 (a RHP at Lander University) and our youngest arrived on December 28, 2009, Banks (a freshman at River Bluff HS). The Alexander’s now reside in Lexington.