Jon Palmieri Named Wake Forest Baseball Assistant Coach
7/9/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
July 9, 2004
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Wake Forest head baseball coach Rick Rembielak has announced the hiring of former Demon Deacon All-American Jon Palmieri to his coaching staff. Palmieri will work primarily with outfield and hitters.
"It did not take long for me to realize that Jon was a natural fit for this staff," Rembielak said. "He had a outstanding playing career helping Wake Forest to back-to-back ACC Tournament Championships. He understands what this program is all about and what it takes to be successful in the Atlantic Coast Conference."
"I am absolutely thrilled to be back home at Wake Forest," Palmieri said. "I am so grateful to both Ron Wellman and Coach Rembielak for giving me this exciting opportunity. I had wonderful experiences here as a student-athlete, both on and off the field. I hope to pass on much of those same experiences to our current and future student-athletes. I am so energized to help this program get back to the level it belongs."
In his three seasons with Georgia Tech, Palmieri worked primarily with the Yellow Jacket hitters and outfielders. This past season, Palmieri helped all three of the Georgia Tech starting outfielders earn all-ACC honors. He was also instrumental as the Yellow Jackets not only led the ACC in hitting with a .319 batting average, but also helped Georgia Tech to a school record 20 straight victories, the ACC regular season championship and a berth into the NCAA Super Regionals.
Palmieri joined the Tech program after a three-year career in professional baseball in the Anaheim Angels organization. He spent the summers of 2001 and 2002 as an assistant coach in the Cape Cod League, first with the with the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox then with the Chatham A's. In 2003, Palmieri was the head coach of the Riverpoint Royals of the NECBL in West Warwick, R.I.
Palmieri's first year at Tech was extremely successful as the Yellow Jackets won a school-record 52 games and advanced to the College World Series. The Yellow Jackets hit .330 as a team, including six regulars who batted .340 or higher, and averaged more than eight runs per game. Georgia Tech was the top hitting team in the 2002 College World Series with a .392 team batting average.
In 2003, Palmieri helped Georgia Tech sweep the first triple-header in Atlantic Coast Conference history as the Yellow Jackets defeated North Carolina, Florida State and NC State to win the ACC Championship.
A two-time All-America selection, Palmieri was a standout first baseman with the Demon Deacons from 1998-99. As a senior, he earned first-team All-America and All-ACC honors after batting .412 with 18 home runs, 94 RBI and a school-record 112 hits before being selected in the 14th round by the Angels in the major league baseball draft. In 1998, Palmieri was tabbed a third-team All-America and again made the first-team All-ACC squad after batting .438 with a school-record 30 doubles.
One of the top hitters in ACC history, Palmieri finished his career with the second highest batting average in ACC history (.395) at that time, while becoming just the fifth player in ACC history to collect at least 300 hits, 200 runs and 200 RBI in his career.
With 112 hits in both 1998 and 1999, he became the just the second ACC player to record back-to-back seasons of 100 hits or more. Palmieri finished his career with an ACC record 82 doubles, while also ranking among the conference's top-five all-time in hits (338) and RBI (241). Palmieri still holds Wake Forest career records for doubles, hits and runs scored (230).
In 2003, Palmieri was elected to the Atlantic Coast Conference's 50th Anniversary team -- a list of the 50 greatest players in the history of the league.
Palmieri earned a bachelor's degree in Communications from Wake Forest in 1999.