The Tulsa Drillers announced their coaching staff for the 2025 season, which sees new manager Eric Wedge taking over for the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Double-A affiliate.
Wedge replaces Scott Hennessey, who is now manager of the Triple-A Oklahoma City Comets. Hennessey had been the Drillers’ manager since 2017. His 455 career victories make Hennessey the second-winningest manager in Tulsa baseball history.
Wedge is back with a professional baseball organization after spending the last three seasons as the head coach of the Wichita State Shockers. Prior to joining his alma mater, Wedge managed 10 seasons in the Major Leagues with the then-Cleveland Indians (2003-09) and Seattle Mariners (2011-13).
Wedge went 774-846 during that span, and was 6-5 in postseason play. Wedge was voted American League Manager of the Year in 2007. That season he led Cleveland to the AL Central title and Division Series win over the New York Yankees before falling to the Boston Red Sox in the Championship Series.
The Drillers staff includes two holdovers from 2024 in pitching coach Durin O’Linger and performance coach Ethan Quarles. Pitching coach Luis Vasquez is another familiar face, though he is a newcomer in some regard after a two-year hiatus working in another area for the organization.
O’Linger is entering his third season as Drillers pitching coach. He’s overseen a staff that’s produced nine pitchers making their MLB debuts, including Ben Casparius, Edgardo Henriquez and Landon Knack. Overall, this season is O’Linger’s fifth with the Dodgers organization.
Vasquez began his coaching career in 2022 as Tulsa’s bullpen coach. He is back with the Drillers after spending 2023 and 2024 as pitching coach for the Arizona Complex League Dodgers.
Quarles is entering a second season on the Drillers’ performance coach and fourth overall in the Dodgers organization. Quarles held the same title for High-A Great Lakes before joining the Drillers.
New Tulsa Drillers coaches
Meanwhile, new Drillers coaches for the 2025 season are hitting coach Blake Gailen, bench coach Cordell Hipolito, bullpen catcher Jose Capellan, athletic trainers Ikuo “Ike” Kato and Dylan Correa, and development associate Kupono Decker.
Gailen is another former Drillers player who now is part of their coaching staff. Gailen played six seasons in the Minors in the Los Angeles Angels, Toronto Blue Jays and Dodgers farm systems.
Gailen also has experience at the international level. In 2021, he played for Team Israel in the Tokyo Olympics and coached for Team Israel in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.
He joins the Drillers for his fourth season as a Dodgers coach after spending two years with their Arizona Complex League affiliate and last year with Single-A Rancho Cucamonga.
Hipolito is entering his seventh season with the Dodgers. Hipolito most recently managed three seasons for the Dodgers’ Dominican Summer League team and spent last year as bench coach for the Quakes.
Capellan is beginning his first season of coaching in the Dodgers organization.
Kato is in his first season with the Drillers as athletic trainer after he spent the past two seasons with the Loons. Kato has also served on the Dodgers Arizona Complex League and the Rancho Cucamonga coaching staffs in his first four years with the organization.
Correa and Decker both are in their respective first years with the Drillers and Dodgers organization.
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