Josh Edgin ’06, a Mercersburg graduate who spent six seasons in Major League Baseball as a pitcher for the New York Mets, is returning to Mercersburg as the school’s head varsity baseball coach. 

Edgin, who was the head varsity baseball coach for the past three years at Scotland Campus in Scotland, PA (near Chambersburg), will also work in Mercersburg’s Department of Athletics as an assistant manager of athletic facilities.

As head baseball coach, Edgin will succeed Matt Jacobs, who remains on the varsity coaching staff as an assistant. Jacobs was an assistant coach before being promoted to head coach before the 2020 season; he is continuing as the school’s assistant director of summer and external programs.

“This is a great opportunity for us to bring in a former Major League Baseball player— and a Mercersburg alum with head coaching experience at the high-school level—to work with our program,” says Lauren Jacobs, interim director of athletics for program and student experience. “It goes without saying that Mercersburg has an incredible baseball tradition, which Josh has been part of as a player. We’re confident that having Josh in the dugout along with Matt and the other members of our coaching staff will help our players develop to the best of their abilities.”

Edgin grew up in Three Springs, PA (in Huntingdon County, north of Mercersburg), and was a four-year Mercersburgstudent. He was a standout member of the football, wrestling, and baseball teams; he is one of just eight male Mercersburg student-athletes to earn 12 varsity letters during his athletic career. Edgin won a state wrestling championship in his weight class and was part of the Blue Storm’s Mid-Atlantic Prep League football championship team in 2005; that team also starred future NFL linebacker Vincent Rey ’06.

Edgin played collegiately at Ohio State University and Francis Marion University and was drafted twice—first by the Atlanta Braves in 2009 (though he did not sign) and then by the Mets in 2010. Edgin made his major-league debut in 2012 and is one of five Mercersburg alumni to reach the major leagues in baseball. He compiled a career record of 4-4 with two saves and a 3.49 earned-run average, recording 116 strikeouts and 52 walks in 129 innings of work. (Edgin also played in the Baltimore Orioles’ and Washington Nationals’ minor-league systems before announcing his retirement from pro baseball in 2019.)