Ex-Reds outfielder Austin Kearns hired as high school baseball coach in Kentucky
Lexington native and former Cincinnati Reds outfielder Austin Kearns has been named the new baseball coach at West Jessamine High School.
Kearns, who spent parts of 12 seasons in Major League Baseball with the Reds, Nationals, Indians, Yankees and Marlins after being named Mr. Kentucky Baseball in 1998, had previously worked as an assistant coach at West Jessamine and took over the program on an interim basis for the final weeks of the 2025 season. With Kearns helping to lead the team, the Colts reached the 12th region championship game, where they were eliminated by Boyle County.
“When it came open, it seemed the right time as far as where we were at with the age of our kids and where they’re at as well,” Kearns said Monday. “Like you’re always trying to balance the family and the coaching aspect.”
Kearns’ oldest son, Aubrey, graduated from West Jessamine in 2024. He started 38 games as a freshman for Morehead State this spring. Kearns has another son in middle school in Jessamine County.
The No. 7 overall pick in the 1998 MLB draft out of Lafayette High School, Kearns hit .253 with 121 home runs in 1,125 career games from 2002 to 2013. His best season was his rookie year in Cincinnati in 2002 when he hit .315 with 13 home runs in 107 games. He finished third in the National League Rookie of the Year voting that season.
Kearns’ MLB career ended in 2013 when the Marlins placed him on the restricted list so he could return to Lexington after his mother had a heart attack.
“Experience is usually the best teacher,” Kearns said. “So whether I’m too old for them to understand (my career), just being through it and understanding that it’s not going to be perfect, nothing’s going to be easy. The sooner they understand that — you got to embrace it, adversity and challenges and meet those head on — the better off these kids will be.”