A native of nearby Washington, Illinois, and a graduate of both Washington Community High School and Illinois Central College, Andrew Werner joined the Bradley coaching staff as the team's pitching coach for the 2019-20 season. Following a professional pitching career that carried him to the mound for the San Diego Padres in 2012, Werner is in his ninth year as a collegiate pitching coach in 2023-24, following stints at ICC, USC-Aiken and Young Harris College.
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Werner has had an immediate impact with the Braves. Following his first full season with the program, Bradley had two players – both pitchers – selected in the first 10 rounds of the Major League Baseball Draft for the first since 1993 when Brooks Gosswein and Theron Denlinger were taken in 2021. Gosswein was Bradley’s top selection in 15 years when he went to the White Sox in the fourth round, while Denlinger was also drafted by Chicago in the seventh round.
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The momentum carried over into the 2022 season when Werner led a short-handed pitching staff and finished with two Braves collecting all-conference honors in Nick King and Jacob Kisting. Kisting is only the second Bradley freshman pitcher to earn All-Valley accolades (and first since 1994), while his six wins on the mound are the most by a BU rookie since 2007.
Werner joined the Bradley staff after serving the previous two years at pitching coach at NCAA Division II Young Harris College in northern Georgia. In his first year with the Mountain Lions, Werner helped the Young Harris staff lower its team earned run average by two-and-a-half runs and complete the 2018 season ranked 23rd nationally with a 2.52 strikeouts-to-walk ratio. For an encore in 2019, Werner helped Young Harris earn its first-ever Peach Belt Conference Tournament title, a berth in the NCAA Division II Tournament for the first time in program history and a final No. 29 national ranking by Collegiate Baseball, the first national ranking in program history.  The Mountain Lions were 36-21 in 2019 with a 4.74 staff ERA, .269 opponent batting average.
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Werner began his collegiate coaching career as the recruiting coordinator and head assistant coach at ICC in 2016, then spent the 2017 campaign at USC-Aiken, helping the Pacers to a 40-15 record, a NCAA Division II Tournament appearance and a No. 23 ranking in Collegiate Baseball's national poll. Led by a pair of MLB draft picks, the 2017 USC-Aiken pitching staff led all of NCAA Division II with 563 strikeouts, while also finishing third in strikeouts per nine innings (10.3) and 16th in strikeouts-to-walk ratio (2.83).
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As a player, Werner began his collegiate career at Illinois Central College, appearing in 19 games during his two seasons (2006-07) at ICC. He posted an 8-7 record for the Cougars with a 4.25 ERA and 100 strikeouts in 106.0 innings. Werner completed his college career at the University of Indianapolis, where he was 12-7 with a 4.07 ERA and 156 strikeouts in 148.1 innings.
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Having graduated from Indianapolis with his degree in criminal justice in 2009, Werner began his professional playing career by signing with the Evansville Otters of the independent Frontier League in 2009. He pitched for both the Windy City Thunderbolts and Evansville in 2010, before signing with Padres organization in 2011.
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A left-handed pitcher, Werner rapidly rose through the San Diego organization, splitting the 2011 campaign between Class A Fort Wayne and Class A Advanced Lake Elsinore. He started the 2012 season with the Double A San Antonio Missions and made four starts for Triple-A Tucson, before cracking the Padres Major League roster. In his eight starts for San Diego in 2012, Werner was 2-3 with a 5.58 ERA and 35 strikeouts in 40.0 innings. He was traded to the Oakland Athletics following the 2012 season and pitched for two seasons in the Oakland farm system, before beginning his coaching career as player-coach for the Ottawa Champions in the independent Can-Am League in 2015.
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