This article was first published in Volume 1, Issue 4 of the Owensboro Times newspaper.
A former local baseball standout, Andrew Emmick never imagined his path would lead from the batter’s box to the weight room — and eventually to the heart of a Major League organization. Fresh out of Brescia University in 2004 with a business degree, he knew only one thing for sure: he wasn’t built for a desk job. Instead, he made a decision that would carry him into a nearly 20-year career as a strength and conditioning coach in professional baseball.
A Hancock County native, Emmick’s playing days trace back to playing T-ball, where he forged lifelong friendships. In high school, he led the Hornets to a surprise 3rd Region title in 1999, graduating with school records in batting average and stolen bases.
After finishing his career with the Bearcats, Emmick wasn’t ready to leave the diamond behind altogether. That passion led him to the United States Sports Academy in Daphne, Alabama, where he earned a master’s in health and fitness management. An internship under renowned trainer Mike Gough at Athletic Edge Sports in Sarasota, Florida, proved pivotal.
“There, our focus was on NFL combine training, so prepping college players for the NFL draft,” Emick said. “That’s where I fell in love with becoming a strength and conditioning coach. That is where I felt like I belonged. I finished up with him and got my certification as a strength and conditioning coach with the National Strength and Conditioning Association.”
Today, Emmick is wrapping up his 16th season as the strength and conditioning coach for the Milwaukee Brewers’ Triple-A affiliate, the Nashville Sounds. He traces that journey back to a single moment in 2005.
During his internship, Emmick found himself at a Cincinnati Reds game during Spring Training and noticed a strength and conditioning coach stretching out and warming up multiple players, including Ken Griffey Jr.
“I thought that was so cool and realized that was where I could probably fit in,” Emmick said. “I’m still stuck in baseball, and now with my new passion for strength and conditioning, I get to do both at the same time. That was when I decided to start researching careers in professional baseball. I reached out to the website where I got my certification, and they had numerous job listings on there. I started calling different organizations and applying for a position with them as a strength and conditioning coach in their minor league system.”
The Anaheim Angels hired him in 2006 to work with their Low-A affiliate in Cedar Rapids. Three years later, he joined the Milwaukee Brewers organization at Double-A Huntsville, and by 2010, he was promoted to Triple-A — where he has stayed ever since.
Early on, Emmick noticed a stark contrast between franchises.
“At that point in time, strength and conditioning were still a new experiment with professional baseball,” Emmick said. “It didn’t have a lot of priority, and it wasn’t a key focus point for organizations. That’s how it was for basically the first three years, probably, but when I switched over to the Brewers, that’s when I noticed a shift. They had more of a focus on getting players faster and stronger, and focusing on the longevity of players’ careers — getting them healthy and keeping them healthy.”
Emmick attributed that approach to the Brewers being a small-market team, saying they are not winning bidding wars and instead are known for developing their own talent.
“That’s what they were spending a lot of time on,” Emmick said. “Let’s get players stronger, faster, and as good as we can through strength and conditioning and then see where they develop as they can.”
As the strength and conditioning coach, Emmick designs and implements programs that improve the players’ athletic performance by developing their strength, power, speed, mobility, endurance, and movement efficiency. While his responsibilities haven’t changed, the data and technology at his disposal have — drastically.
“The biggest thing is the involvement of strength and conditioning kind of went from just making sure they do a bit here and there to having structured lifts,” Emmick said. “We started doing more player testing, and technology started being involved — including force plates to test power and force numbers, or timing their sprint speed. We started implementing more of that into our training. Now in 2025, the amount of data we have to collect and the attention that is put on strength and conditioning is pretty crazy compared to 2006.”
A major part of that system is Bridge Athletics, a digital platform that allows coaches to design, assign, and track programs using a library of more than 3,000 exercises. It has streamlined what once took hours on paper.
Emmick said life as a strength and conditioning coach is ever-changing. For the first decade of his career, he was a one-man show. It wasn’t until 2023 that each affiliate began hiring associate strength and conditioning coaches.
“Before that, I was responsible for all strength and conditioning tasks for all 28-34 players, as well as being an assistant travel coordinator and also ordering all pregame and postgame meals for the team,” Emmick said. “Once we hired the associates and also two dieticians in 2023, I was able to cut my workload down and actually focus most of my time on strength and conditioning.”
As the 2025 season has wound to a close, Emmick has no intention of stepping away from the game. Whenever he does call it quits, though, Emmick said he can see himself breaking into the private sector and coaching youth ball.
“There are so many kids today not getting the proper training they need,” Emmick said. “Coaches are just out there copying Instagram posts, looking for quick fixes and attractive exercises that look cool. I would like to teach kids the basics of training — building a strong foundation before building the massive house.”
But he’s not there yet.
“I have an amazing job with a great organization, and I’m hungry for a World Series ring,” Emmick said. “I’d like to ride it out and maybe someday bring home some hardware.”
