Mike Birkbeck

Biography

Considered by many as the best pitching coach in the country, Mike Birkbeck, a former major league pitcher, has been the associate head coach at Kent State since July 2004. Prior to coming to Kent State, Birkbeck spent 14 years playing professionally. His last 10 seasons were spent at the AAA or major league level. He also spent parts of two seasons playing in the Japanese major leagues with the Yokohama Baystars in Yokohama, Japan. The Golden Flashes have now won ten MAC regular season titles, ten MAC tournament crowns and have appeared in ten NCAA Regional Tournaments during Birkbeck’s tenure, including 17 championships in the last 22 seasons. In Birkbeck's 25 seasons, KSU has won 869 games, an average of 35 wins per year including a stretch where the Flashes won at least 30 games in 22 consecutive full seasons. The top five team strikeout totals for a single season ever at KSU have all come under Birkbeck’s watch (2012, 2018, 2011, 2009 and 2017). His staffs have also set two of the lowest season ERAs in school history. Birkbeck has worked with 53 student-athletes who have been drafted or signed into professional baseball, including 2011 First Round Draftee Andrew Chafin and 2016 fellow first rounder and National Player and Pitcher of the Year Eric Lauer. Lauer also set the season's lowest ERA in the nation that season at 0.69, the lowest in over 30 years across Division I baseball. Eight of his former hurlers, Matt Guerrier ’99 (Twins), John VanBenschoten ‘01 (Pirates), D