Prairie Ridge graduate Jordan Getzelman catches on with Brewers as hitting coach

Jordan Getzelman viewed the mechanics of a baseball swing with a more meticulous eye than most players.

Getzleman’s nature made it imperative that he completely understood what happened with his swing.

“I always saw things through a coach’s lens,” said Getzelman, a 2013 Prairie Ridge graduate. “Sometimes it made me a little over-analytical. It’s been kind of a coach’s mindset. I love hitting. It’s something I’ve had a great passion for for a long time.”

Getzelman’s knowledge of the swing benefited him greatly in 2017, when he rebounded from a subpar year at NCAA Division I Kennesaw State in Georgia (.200 batting average, three home runs, 10 RBIs) to finish his college career with a bang (hitting .333, with 26 homers, 60 RBIs and 16 stolen bases) at NAIA Menlo College in California.

“Throughout my career, I had a lot of ups and downs as a hitter,” Getzelman said. “That last year at Menlo, I took it upon myself to learn everything from the ground up myself, about hitting, about the swing and everything in between. I was able to turn my career around.”

Menlo coach Jake McKinley appreciated Getzelman’s attitude and comprehension so much that he took Getzelman with him to NAIA William Jessup the next season. Now, after spending two years at Dallas Baptist as director of hitting development, Getzelman is reunited with McKinley in the Milwaukee Brewers’ organization.

McKinley is the Brewers director of player development initiatives, while Getzelman is an assistant hitting coach who will work with minor league players.

“He coached with me at William Jessup, then he went to work at Dallas Baptist, one of the premier offensive colleges in the country and he learned under arguably the best hitting coach in the world (head coach Dan Heefner),” McKinley said. “This guy’s got this special skills set where you know he’s going to fit. I don’t think that’s something you can teach, having a feel for people and the ability to navigate relationships is probably something you have or you don’t. He totally has it.”

A long journey

Getzleman’s trip to professional baseball as a coach covered almost the entire country. After graduating from Prairie Ridge as a Northwest Herald All-Area first-team outfielder, hitting .396 with nine homers and 28 RBIs, Getzelman headed to Missouri.

He was there only one year, although he met the love of his life, Casey Stangel, who played softball for the Tigers. They kept up their long-distance relationship after both transferred after their freshman years, and they were married in November.

Casey finished her career at Washington, where, coincidentally, she played against Oregon’s Sara Goodrum, who was hired this offseason as the Brewers coordinator of hitting development initiatives.

The Getzelmans live in Nashville, where Casey had been working as operations coordinator for Vanderbilt’s baseball team. She recently took a position as Vandy’s director of football operations.

“It was a little bit of a journey,” Jordan Getzelman said. “I’ve been a bit of a nomad, it feels like, since high school. I love being in Nashville.”

Getzelman played one season at Iowa Western Community College, then one season at Kennesaw before finishing at Menlo. McKinley said Getzelman’s recruitment to Menlo was unique.

“His wife’s dad (Chris Stangel) called me out of the blue,” McKinley said. “I had never had that recommendation before, a girlfriend’s dad call to recommend a boyfriend. I was like, ‘Well, if anything, he’s probably a good guy, that’s a blessing right there.’ "

McKinley was glad he Googled Getzelman’s name and saw the numbers he had posted in high school and junior college.

“He’s like every coach’s dream player,” McKinley said. “A guy you can plug into your lineup and you know you’re gong to get offensive production, you know he’s going to play defense, and he has leadership qualities.”

Strong mentors

Getzelman enjoyed his two years (one as player, one as assistant coach) with McKinley, as well as his two seasons with Heefner at Dallas Baptist, although the second was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Jake has been a huge influence on me,” Getzelman said. “He really saw things through an environmental lens. If I can make the environment which people train in good, positive and challenging, then the players are going to be called up to that skill level. They’re going to acquire it because the environment demands it.

“Dan Heefner is another brilliant mind. He specifically had a really strong knack for analyzing swings, understanding how players move, why they’re doing what they’re doing, it was really good to learn from him. I’ve been very fortunate to learn a lot from those two guys in particular.”

At Dallas Baptist, Getzelman’s position was not as an official coach, but he did background work, implemented technology, analyzed hitters, helped design practices.

“I was able to kind of microscopically look at our guys and see exactly what they were doing and make sure our system was running well,” Getzelman said.

‘An easy hire’

Getzelman, 26, is only a few years older than the players he will be working with. He likely will spend a lot of time at the Brewers training complex in Arizona.

McKinley admires Getzelman’s ability to break down swing mechanics, as well as his ability to connect with players.

“It felt like a slam-dunk,” McKinley said. “This guy is going to make us better and his best days are ahead of him. It was a pretty easy higher, to be honest.

“He’s pretty young to hold such a position, but that landscape has changed in major league baseball. Age and playing background are less important. It’s more about your raw ability to make players better, which he certainly has. I feel he has a natural feel for people. He’s young, but mature beyond his years.”

Getzelman is excited about the challenges ahead, adapting to hitters and finding out what works best for each player.

“One of the most important parts of the job is understanding who you’re working with,” Getzelman said. “Everybody comes from a different history, a different coaching style or personality, but they move differently and have different physical attributes.

“Trying to learn how they move, what they’re doing, how their swing works for them is probably most of the work. Then, trying to gear that toward how it can work most efficiently to hit hard and hit often is kind of where the money is made. I find it fascinating.”