Mike’s expertise in the mechanics and biomechanics of baseball stems from a lifelong passion for the game and a strong desire to learn and understand all of its intricacies from a very young age. When he was growing up, however, baseball instruction was extremely underdeveloped in the northeast. As he grew older, he became insistent upon developing it.
In 1992, in his junior year in high school, Mike witnessed three players from his high school team suffer arm injuries in one season. Two of the players missed the rest of the baseball season that summer. The third, who, like Mike, was a top collegiate recruit, never played a competitive game again. Mike knew that none of these players threw anymore or any less than he did. He also knew that “bad luck” did not seem like a plausible answer as to how and why these players were injured. And so began his pursuit of learning to fully understand the proper and healthy body mechanics of throwing.
Later that summer, while playing for an elite-level summer team, he heard another puzzling baseball phrase; “natural power hitter”. In this particular instance, his coach was referring to a smaller framed shortstop that would consistently drive the baseball farther and harder than most of his bigger teammates. Mike didn’t understand how this could be. He wondered, “could it really be natural?” Did this small hitter possess some sort of magical, indescribable ability to allow him to hit a baseball as far as he does? It did not seem either reasonable or rational. Years later, by studying Big League hitters and their hitting mechanics, he realized just how a hitter of smaller stature could out hit and out-drive a hitter almost twice his size. And “nature” had nothing to do with it.
Mike soon realized that the vast majority of hitters did not apply proper hitting mechanics. Even the good hitters were leaving bat speed, power and distance on the table. In his eyes, they were not hitting to their potential. They were not applying body force.
Today, Mike is applying his knowledge to the development of young baseball players and helping them healthily reach the highest levels of baseball, through his expertise. Now in his 12th year of baseball instruction, Mike has been able to witness several of his student-players play and perform at the high-school, collegiate and professional levels through his philosophies on body force and energy transfer. Not one of his students has suffered injury due to mechanical collapse.
As a Coach:
Mike was the Manager and Head Coach of the Brighton Brewers (2004-2009) and the West Roxbury Bluefish (2010) in the Yawkey Baseball League of Boston, reaching the playoffs all but 1 season, semi-finals 5 of those seasons and championship finals 3 times.
In 2009, Mike was the head coach of the Northeast Bulldogs 13U AAU team for its inaugural season. In 2010, he moved to coach the 14U team for Team Nokona USA Baseball-AAU, where he also served as the program's roving hitting instructor for all age levels. He was also selected to sit on the advisory board for Team Nokona USA.
In 2011, Mike founded the Minutemen Baseball Elite Development Program, a travel team-based program that was to be centrally focused on player skill development above all else. In addition to training all of the program’s teams (there were 3 at the time), Mike managed the 14U Minutemen in their inaugural season. That same year, he was asked to manage the Newton, Ma. 14U Babe Ruth All-Star team - a team that was made up almost entirely of his Minutemen players, and went on to win the district, state and New England region championships. He and his team impressively finished in 3rd place overall, in the nation.
The very next year, in 2012, Mike led his 15U Minutemen team to the New England Elite Baseball League 15U Division II championship.
Most recently, Mike was the Head Coach of the Minutemen’s 18U College Prospect team, which has been largely regarded as one of the very best in the northeast region.
As a Player:
Mike played highly-competitive baseball for 12 years in the Yawkey Baseball League of Boston. A league comprised almost entirely of collegiate and both former and soon-to-be professional players, making 6 All-Star appearances and winning two league championships.
Business:
In 2004, Mike was the General Manager at Extra Innings in Watertown, MA (one of the most successful Extra Innings franchisees in the nation), overseeing the day-to-day operations and implementing new programs, incentives and sales plans. In addition, Mike worked with both young and adult baseball players, teaching the proper mechanics of the “rotate and extend TNT” professional swing and the “tall and drive” pitching philosophy, before moving on to the Nokona Baseball Glove Company in 2007.
In 2007, Mike took on the role of Sales Director for the northeastern (United States) territory for Nokona, growing the sales in that territory by nearly 200 percent in one year’s time. He also introduced a new glove idea to Nokona, named “Bloodline” that he saw come to fruition in 2008.
In 2008, through the success of his glove concept, Mike became the director of Product Development for Nokona Baseball (which he still maintains on a contractual basis). Mike has witnessed success with three new glove designs in the last two years
Mike lives with his wife, Sara, and their children, Ella and Luke, in Sudbury, Massachusetts.
