Interim Head Coach Joey Swanson

Joey Swanson was named the Interim Head Baseball Coach in September of 2024 and heads into his first season as the leader of Saint Martin's Baseball. Coach Swanson started at Saint Martin's as a volunteer assistant coach in 2016 after spending time instructing and umpiring at the youth amateur baseball level. He holds 23 years of combined youth and collegiate coaching experience. Swanson is entering his ninth year at Saint Martin's, where he primarily works with hitters, catchers, and is also the third base coach.

During the 2024 season, the SMU Baseball trio of catchers, under the guidance of Swanson, threw out 19 base runners and only had 10 passed balls combined - both of which are school records. The offense also soared to new heights under Swanson with statistics for doubles, stolen base percentage, slugging percentage, runs scored, hits, triples, RBIs, total bases, and fewest strikeouts all recording top-10 marks in SMU Baseball history. Swanson has also helped develop three First-Team, 12 Second-Team, and 14 Honorable Mention All-Conference athletes. He played a crucial role in the program's 2019 run where SMU finished as the Great Northwest Athletic Conference runner-up and was named Academic Team Champions.

Joey is a lead instructor at MLB-affiliated E|L1 sports in Tacoma and also the baseball program director for Northwest Reign Baseball Club after spending many years with the Diamond Jaxx Baseball Club and Northwest Timberjacks Baseball Club. Over the past 20 years, Swanny has worked with Baseball Northwest, PNW Baseball, Team Northwest, and Northwest Elite to help promote and develop high school student-athletes as well as coaches. Coach Swanson's summer travel programs have seen over 130 players move on to play at the collegiate level at schools such as Marshall University, Oregon State University, Washington State University, University of Puget Sound, Pacific University, Brown University, and several other colleges in the northwest and throughout the country. Coach Swanson has helped develop and influence several athletes that played in minor league baseball and at all levels of collegiate competition.

Swanson graduated from North Thurston High School in 2000 while lettering in baseball and football. After high school, Joey spent time at Lane Community College playing under head coach Donny Harrel and at Skagit Valley College playing under head coach Mark Linden before injuries and surgeries led him to pursue coaching full-time. Swanson is also a graduate of Jim Evans Professional Umpiring Academy, which gives him a unique perspective on how to train catchers. Joey currently lives in Olympia with his wife Kristen and their two children, Brynn and Jace.