Rennspies to take over West Hall baseball

Beginning next season West Hall baseball players will have a chance to learn from a man who has coached current Major League players Jose Bautista and Russell Martin.

Dustin Rennspies -- who coached Bautista and Martin as an assistant at Chipola College in Marianna, Fla. -- will be taking over the Spartans for the 2013 campaign.

"I was attracted to the area, and we're excited about coming up there," said Rennspies, who is leaving his current position as assistant coach for A. Crawford Mosley High School in Panama City, Fla., to come to Oakwood. "I've already received a lot of support from the administration and the parents, and I'm excited about coming up there and building a strong program."

Rennspies, 38, will take over from Pete Allen, who stepped down as head coach this spring after three seasons in charge. The Spartans went 7-16 in 2012.

"I'm starting a family, and we figured if we were going to make a move for me to become a head coach we wanted to be somewhere we can put down roots, and we fell in love with the community up there," said Rennspies, who will be taking his first head coaching position after stints at Chipola, Mosley and Jeff Davis Junior College (Brewton, Ala.) before that.

"I've been very lucky in that I've coached 11-12 guys that have reached the Majors," Rennspies said. "I've also coached for two great head coaches in Keith Griffin at Jeff Davis and Jeff Johnson at Chipola. Those two guys have won a ton and do things the right way.

"My biggest thing is I want to give the players at West Hall what I've learned from the coaches and players I've been around. I want to give them everything I've learned."

Rennspies graduated from Mosley and was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers. He played college baseball before signing with the Dodgers, eventually playing in the minor league systems of the Dodgers and Atlanta Braves.

Rennspies, who holds a Master's degree in education leadership from the University of West Florida, is married to Theresa. The couple are expecting a son, their first child.