Chillicothe’s Bryan Wickline named Prospect League GM of the Year

The Prospect League began announcing organization awards Monday from the recently completed 2024 season, naming Bryan Wickline of the Chillicothe Paints, presented by CohenOrthopedic, General Manager of the Year.

Organization awards are voted on by each of the Prospect League's 18 team front offices.

This honor adds to an already impressive list of Wickline’s career accomplishments with the Paints, including Frontier League Executive of the Year in 1996, 1998, 2006 and 2008, Organization of the Year in '96 and '98, and being selected among the nation's "Top-10 Minor League Baseball Franchises of the Year" by Baseball America Magazine.

After being a professional team in the Frontier League from 1993-2008, the Paints became a Charter Member of the Prospect League. Wickline was instrumental in creating a merger of the Prospect League and the Central Illinois Collegiate League (CICL) to form the 11-team Prospect League for its inaugural season in 2009.

Wickline was elected President of the Board of Directors at the first annual meeting of the League at the ABCA Convention in San Diego, Calif. and served in that capacity through the first several years of the league's operation. He also served as Co-Commissioner for The Prospect League during the 2009 season. He was the Prospect League's Commissioner for the 2014 and 2015 seasons.

Born in Chillicothe, Wickline graduated from Ohio University in 1995 with a bachelor's degree in Sports Management. Returning back to his home town, he started his baseball career and a lifelong addiction to the sport, when he was hired by the Chillicothe Paints Professional Baseball Club (Charter Member of the Frontier League of Professional Baseball) in its second year of existence as a college intern in 1994 and was named the Assistant General Manager in 1995. In 1996, Wickline was promoted to the General Manager's position, and from 2000-2015, he held the title of Vice President/General Manager for the Paints.

Wickline is now the Managing Partner of Paints Sports and Entertainment, LLC, which bought the team prior to the 2016 season. He is also the Paints' Director to the Prospect League Board of Directors.

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