Tyler Hanson enters his sixth season on the Virginia Tech baseball coaching staff, having arrived in June 2018 as the Hokies’ volunteer assistant coach. In June 2022, he was elevated to the title of assistant coach, catchers and scouting.
In his current role, Hanson specializes in the development of Tech’s battery, assists with the offense and handles the day-to-day operations of the program’s baseball camps. Before joining the Hokies, he served as the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Eastern Kentucky for three seasons (2016-18).
With Hanson on staff, Tech has become a destination for catchers and has consistently placed among the best pitching staffs in the ACC. Since making his way to Blacksburg, he has placed two catchers on the Buster Posey National Collegiate Catcher of the Year Award watch list – Carson Taylor (2020) and Cade Hunter (2022) – with Hunter earning national semifinalist recognition in 2022.
Hanson’s work with Hunter was key to Virginia Tech’s historic 2022 season that culminated with the program’s first ACC Coastal Division title and NCAA Regional championship. As the Hokies’ starting backstop, he batted .330 and slugged .637 with 14 doubles, 17 home runs and 66 RBIs while responsible for catching 11 runners stealing.
Offensively, Hanson assisted with Tech’s red-hot offense that ranked second nationally in slugging percentage (.574). The “Hammerin’ Hokies” smashed 126 home runs during the 2022 campaign, placing among the top 15 NCAA Division I programs in home runs, home runs per game (2.14), doubles per game (2.37), doubles (140), batting average (.309) and scoring (8.7 runs per game).
In 2020, Hanson mentored Taylor to team-leading marks in almost every offensive category, earning year-end national rankings in 13 categories. Behind the plate, Taylor added his name to the Tech record book in five places, including his single-season fielding percentage of 1.000 during the 2020 season (min. 100 chances) tying for the best ever, while his career .998 is also the best ever (min. 400 chances).
After the shortened 2020 season, Taylor earned earned All-America distinction from Collegiate Baseball Newspaper as it recognized him as a Third Team selection. Also, Taylor was a fourth-round selection by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2020 MLB Draft.
Hanson brought nine seasons of professional coaching experience to Blacksburg and includes four seasons at North Carolina Central (2012-15) and a year at Duke (2011). He also coached a handful of players selected in the MLB draft, including Eastern Kentucky catcher Alex Holderbach, a 16th-round pick by Houston in 2018.
During the 2018 season, under Hanson’s tutelage, Holderbach was named one of three finalists for the Johnny Bench Award, the first baseball player from the Ohio Valley Conference to be chosen as a finalist, and was a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy. Hanson coached Colonel first baseman Ben Fisher to a semifinalist honor last season as well.
In his three years in Richmond, Hanson was in charge of the team’s offense as well, seeing Colonel players earned a pair of OVC Players of the Year honors, two Dick Howser Trophy semifinalists, a Golden Spikes Award Watch List player, four All-Americans, seven All-OVC team members and three Johnny Bench Award watch list players.
His last year, Eastern Kentucky finished in the top 40 in the nation in 11 different categories, most notably seventh in hits, eighth in runs scored, 14th in stolen bases and 18th in stolen bases per game. His 2017 squad was top 50 in the country in six different categories including 23rd in home runs, 29th in slugging, and 38th in batting. Also during his time at EKU, he saw four of his players end the regular season leading the nation in several categories – home runs, twice, and hits and RBI, once each.
In each of his last three positions, Hanson was the team’s academic liaison and saw the each of his teams post a team GPA of 3.1 or better in each of his seasons with those teams, including a high of 3.2 with Duke in the spring of 2011.
In his current role, Hanson specializes in the development of Tech’s battery, assists with the offense and handles the day-to-day operations of the program’s baseball camps. Before joining the Hokies, he served as the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Eastern Kentucky for three seasons (2016-18).
With Hanson on staff, Tech has become a destination for catchers and has consistently placed among the best pitching staffs in the ACC. Since making his way to Blacksburg, he has placed two catchers on the Buster Posey National Collegiate Catcher of the Year Award watch list – Carson Taylor (2020) and Cade Hunter (2022) – with Hunter earning national semifinalist recognition in 2022.
Hanson’s work with Hunter was key to Virginia Tech’s historic 2022 season that culminated with the program’s first ACC Coastal Division title and NCAA Regional championship. As the Hokies’ starting backstop, he batted .330 and slugged .637 with 14 doubles, 17 home runs and 66 RBIs while responsible for catching 11 runners stealing.
Offensively, Hanson assisted with Tech’s red-hot offense that ranked second nationally in slugging percentage (.574). The “Hammerin’ Hokies” smashed 126 home runs during the 2022 campaign, placing among the top 15 NCAA Division I programs in home runs, home runs per game (2.14), doubles per game (2.37), doubles (140), batting average (.309) and scoring (8.7 runs per game).
In 2020, Hanson mentored Taylor to team-leading marks in almost every offensive category, earning year-end national rankings in 13 categories. Behind the plate, Taylor added his name to the Tech record book in five places, including his single-season fielding percentage of 1.000 during the 2020 season (min. 100 chances) tying for the best ever, while his career .998 is also the best ever (min. 400 chances).
After the shortened 2020 season, Taylor earned earned All-America distinction from Collegiate Baseball Newspaper as it recognized him as a Third Team selection. Also, Taylor was a fourth-round selection by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2020 MLB Draft.
Hanson brought nine seasons of professional coaching experience to Blacksburg and includes four seasons at North Carolina Central (2012-15) and a year at Duke (2011). He also coached a handful of players selected in the MLB draft, including Eastern Kentucky catcher Alex Holderbach, a 16th-round pick by Houston in 2018.
During the 2018 season, under Hanson’s tutelage, Holderbach was named one of three finalists for the Johnny Bench Award, the first baseball player from the Ohio Valley Conference to be chosen as a finalist, and was a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy. Hanson coached Colonel first baseman Ben Fisher to a semifinalist honor last season as well.
In his three years in Richmond, Hanson was in charge of the team’s offense as well, seeing Colonel players earned a pair of OVC Players of the Year honors, two Dick Howser Trophy semifinalists, a Golden Spikes Award Watch List player, four All-Americans, seven All-OVC team members and three Johnny Bench Award watch list players.
His last year, Eastern Kentucky finished in the top 40 in the nation in 11 different categories, most notably seventh in hits, eighth in runs scored, 14th in stolen bases and 18th in stolen bases per game. His 2017 squad was top 50 in the country in six different categories including 23rd in home runs, 29th in slugging, and 38th in batting. Also during his time at EKU, he saw four of his players end the regular season leading the nation in several categories – home runs, twice, and hits and RBI, once each.
In each of his last three positions, Hanson was the team’s academic liaison and saw the each of his teams post a team GPA of 3.1 or better in each of his seasons with those teams, including a high of 3.2 with Duke in the spring of 2011.