Pitching coach hired

The Wild Things announced Monday the hiring of former major leaguer Kevin Gryboski as pitching coach.

Gryboski replaces Gary Lee, who was a player/coach the last two seasons. Lee was recently traded to Laredo of the American Association.

Gryboski spent five years in the major leagues with three teams and pitched in 238 games. He has been in professional baseball for 14 years.

A native of Wilkes-Barre and product of Wilkes University, Gryboski was drafted twice, both times in the 16th round, by Cincinnati in 1994 and Seattle in 1995. He signed with Seattle and was traded to the Atlanta Braves in 2002, when he made his major-league debut and pitched in 57 games for the Braves.

Gryboski pitched in a career-high 69 games for Atlanta in 2004, compiling a 3-2 record with two saves and 2.84 ERA. He also pitched in the major leagues with Texas and Washington. His career record was 12-8.

 “We are really excited about the addition of Kevin to our coaching staff,” said Wild Things manager Bart Zeller. “He worked side-by-side with Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux and John Smoltz, along with being managed by Bobby Cox. I’m particularly impressed with Kevin’s commitment to work with the young pitchers to develop them into productive pitchers.”

Gryboski spent two years as a volunteer coach at Peters Township before being named the head coach at Thomas Jefferson High School last year. He guided the Jaguars to a 13-9 record and spot in the WPIAL Class AAA quarterfinals.

Joining Zeller and Gryboski on the coaching staff will be hitting coach Bob Didier and veteran Wild Things coach Bob Bozzuto.