Former Major League Baseball player Brett Wallace is in his second season as Cal's hitting coach in 2026 and also works with the Golden Bears' infielders.
Wallace made an immediate impact on a young and inexperienced 2025 Cal team that returned just four regular starting position players from a successful 2024 squad. Cal’s offense was a consistent threat and finished among the top 10 of the ACC and top 125 nationally in 2025 in triples (16, 2/T38), doubles (107, T8/T103), slugging percentage (.470, 9/84), home runs (72, T10/T82) and hits (536, 10/T125). Wallace coached a pair of All-ACC selections in second-team 2B Jarren Advincula (.342, 6 HR, 33 RBI, 13 SB) and third-team OF Jacob French (.390, 4 HR, 36 RBI, 2 SB) with both among ACC and national statistical leaers. French's .390 batting average ranked second in the ACC and 25th nationally, while his five triples were tied for second in the league and tied for 19th nationally. He was also the ACC's sixth-toughest player to strike out and tied for No. 89 nationally with 9.8 at bats per strikeout. Advincula was ninth in the ACC and tied for 82nd nationally with 81 hits and also had a team-high 17 doubles. Transfer C Alex Birge led the Bears with 12 home runs after hitting none in three seasons at Wichita State, while 1B Dominic Smaldino drove in a team-high 46 runs and was second to Birge with 11 long balls. French and SS PJ Moutzouridis were named to the all-tournament squad at the ACC Championship. Wallace also played a key role in the seasons produced by Cade Campbell and Carl Schmidt. Campbell contributed a .313 batting average, eight home runs and 39 RBI after not playing in 2024 and hitting just .115 in limited duty in 2023, while Schmidt contributed a .286 mark, five home runs and 30 RBI in his first collegiate action as a redshirt freshman after transferring from Texas A&M. Max Handron also dropped a career-high-tying nine home runs and drove in a career-high 34 runs in his lone season under Wallace's tutelage.
Wallace's 2025 Cal offense came on at the end of the season, hitting .333 with three homers and 19 RBI in three ACC Championship games to help the Bears produce a 12-2 victory over Miami and a 14-12 win against Wake Forest to reach the quarterfinals. The offense also had a performance for the record books in a 19-3 win on March 2 at Santa Clara when the Bears smashed a single-game school-record-tying eight home runs with Campbell also tying a school mark by bashing three, in addition to other memorable showings with five homers in a 14-1 win in the Bears' first-ever ACC game March 7 at Duke, back-to-back 13-run outputs March 21 and 22 in the first two games of a three-game series sweep at Stanford, and a 14-10 win March 29 at CWS participant Louisville that capped a run of three consecutive double-digit run outbursts.
"This is a home run hire," Cal head coach Mike Neu said upon Wallace's hiring on Aug. 1, 2024. "Brett is a bright, young and enthusiastic baseball coach who has succeeded at the highest level of our game as a player and is just beginning to embark on what I believe will be a highly successful coaching career. I'm excited that he is bringing his knowledge and expertise to our program. He's also got a terrific personality and a tremendous work ethic. He will be great in recruiting and help us bring excellent baseball players to Cal."
"This program is on an upward trajectory, and this is an exciting opportunity for me," Wallace said following his hiring. "I look forward to helping this program get to the next level and consistently be a championship-caliber team."
Wallace spent the 2024 season at his alma mater Arizona State as the Sun Devils' Director of Quality Control and Offensive Strategy for a team that finished 32-26 overall and 17-13 in the Pac-12. ASU won its final four regular-season Pac-12 series and last six regular-season contests overall.
The 2024 Arizona State squad led the Pac-12 in several key offensive categories including batting average (.313), at bats (2,080), runs (482), hits (652) and doubles (143). The Sun Devils also ranked second in the league in home runs (102), RBI (450), bases on balls (273), on base percentage (.403), slugging percentage (.541) and offensive strikeout percentage (17.54%). Nationally, ASU was 12th, 14th and 15th in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage, respectively.
The Sun Devils' 2024 offensive numbers in Wallace's lone season on the staff were marked improvements from a 2023 squad that ranked no better than fourth in the Pac-12 in any offensive category.
Wallace helped develop five Sun Devils who earned 2024 All-Pac-12 honors including the conference's Freshman of the Year in DH/LHP Brandon Compton, who hit .354 while pacing all Pac-12 freshmen with 14 home runs and 51 RBI. Others to join Compton on the All-Pac-12 teams were Buster Posey Award finalist C Ryan Campos (.364, 11 HR, 56 RBI), OF Nick McLain (.342, 12 HR, 54 RBI), 1B Jacob Tobias (.322, 18 HR, 58 RBI) and All-American OF Kien Vu (.413, 14 HR, 56 RBI). Four of the five players have been selected in the first 10 rounds of the MLB Draft over the past two seasons with McLain (Chicago White Sox, 3rd round) and Campos (St. Louis Cardinals, 4th round) taken in 2024 followed by the 2025 selections of Compton (Florida, 2nd round) and Vu (Cincinnati, 9th round).
As a professional baseball player, Wallace spent a combined six MLB seasons with Houston (2010-13) and San Diego (2015-16). He hit .238 with 40 home runs and 138 RBI in 494 career major league regular-season contests. He also played 564 minor league regular-season games over at least part of seven different seasons and hit .304 with 83 home runs and 316 RBI. Wallace began his professional playing career in 2008 after being selected by St. Louis with the 13th pick overall in the first round of the MLB Draft earlier the same year.
Wallace was an All-American and finalist for the Golden Spikes Award given to college baseball's top player as a 2008 junior at Arizona State, as well as a two-time Pac-12 Player of the Year and triple crown winner in back-to-back seasons over his final two campaigns with the Sun Devils in 2007 and 2008. He finished his collegiate career with a .406 batting average, 45 home runs and 193 RBI in 170 games, while his three Arizona State squads from 2006-08 compiled a combined 136-49 (.735) record and reached the postseason in each of his campaigns including a trip to the College World Series during his 2007 sophomore season.
The Bay Area native prepped at Justin-Siena High School in Napa, where he lettered all four seasons and led his teams to a combined 97-9 record including a perfect 27-0 mark during his 2005 senior campaign when he hit .520 with 12 home runs and 40 RBI to earn Collegiate Baseball/Louisville Slugger All-American, California Small Schools Player of the Year and first-team all-state recognition. The Braves won three North Coast Section Class A crowns during his prep career, and he combined to hit .464 with 30 home runs and 123 RBI. Wallace was also a combined 5-0 with eight saves on the mound as a prep.
In addition to his playing and coaching careers, Wallace has also been a private hitting instructor and ran a private business. He returned to Arizona State to earn a bachelor's degree in liberal studies in 2018.
Wallace and his wife (Taylar) are the parents of one son (Beckett) and two daughters (Madison, Olivia).
Last Updated
July 27, 2025
