The Chillicothe Paints, a collegiate summer baseball team based in Chillicothe, Ohio, has recently hired John Penn ’14 as its new field manager.
“I’m just very thankful and humbled for the doors that have opened up for me to be able to take this role,” Penn said in a news release. “I’m looking forward to a great season. The Paints are a team with high standards and, technically speaking, are the defending champs.”
Penn is currently an assistant coach at Bryant & Stratton Community College in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Prior to joining the staff at Bryan & Stratton, Penn spent two seasons with NCAA DI Old Dominion working with catchers and hitters, two seasons with Iowa Western Community College and two seasons in coaching at NCAA DIII Bluffton University, serving as a graduate assistant.
Penn graduated from Wabash College with a bachelor’s degree in rhetoric. He was a relief pitcher and a member of the 2011 team that won the North Coast Athletic Conference at VA Memorial Stadium.
“I’ve celebrated high school district championships at VA Memorial Stadium and celebrated Wabash’s first NCAC Championship in school history on that field,” Penn said. “I have a ton of memories stretching back to being a little kid going to Paints (youth baseball) camps. It’s all a little surreal that I’m going to be at the helm of a team in a town I grew up in.”
The Paints have made the playoffs eight times and won two championships in 11 seasons since joining the Prospect League as a charter member in 2009. The team will open the 2021 season against the Lafayette Aviators on May 27 at VA Memorial Stadium.
