05/09/2017
CALIFORNIA PROSPECTS COACHING STAFF
In the last few years we have grown as an Academy and have accomplished a lot of great things and the future is only looking better. I am very proud to introduce these coaches to our staff.
Richie Kimm
Director of Baseball Operations
California Prospects
Richie joins California Prospects with an accomplished baseball résumé of over 25 years of experience as a player, coach, and baseball academy owner. In high school, he won the Sac. Metro batting title and was named co-player of the year. From there he attended Sacramento City College and earned a scholarship to play at CSU Fullerton. After being derailed for a year by an injury, he went on to finish his college career at Southern Arkansas University where he was recognized as the AIC and South West Region Player of the Year and became an All-American. He went on to be inducted into the SAU Hall of Fame in 2015. After a career-ending injury at Southern Arkansas, Richie returned to his love of teaching baseball which he had discovered in 1988 while instructing at Sac City baseball camps. Pursuing his passion of teaching, he opened Hitting Streak Baseball Academy in 1994. Having a player’s point-of-view, witnessing the impact positive coaching can have on a player’s development, and managing a baseball academy for 20 years has given him the experience and background to strengthen The California Prospects’ goal of providing a program for personal and player growth.
Pat Gomez
California Prospects Pitching Advisor and Instructor
Pat is a former Major League Baseball player who played locally at San Juan High School and graduated in 1986. He was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the 4th round of the 1986 MLB June Amateur Draft. Pat played in the Cubs organization from 1986 to 1992 and made his major league debut in 1993 with the San Diego Padres before finishing his career with the San Francisco Giants from 1994 to 1995. After an injury ended his MLB career, he started coaching high school in 1997 and continued through 2010. Pat is currently providing private instruction.
Joel Manfredi
Head Coach
Joel was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 63rd round of the 1994 MLB June
Amateur Draft from Lincoln High School (Stockton, CA). He played three years in the Dodgers organization as a 3rd baseman and catcher. During his time with the Dodgers, he had the privilege of being coached by Mike Scioscia and Mickey Hatcher. He has coached at multiple levels including Little League, high school, Merced College, and the Western Major Baseball Leauge in Canada. He is currently a head coach and instructor for California Prospects.
Greg Zanolli
Head Coach
Greg graduated from UCSB in 1990 with a minor in Athletic Coaching. He started his coaching career after he accepted an internship when joining the coaching staff for the NCAA Division I UC Santa Barbara Gauchos’ baseball team. When he moved into the Sacramento area, he got involved with local youth baseball beginning in 2002 to 2012. Greg moved on to coaching high school baseball in 2011 and is currently coaching as a Varsity Assistant Coach at Oakmont High School.
Tony Aldridge
Head Coach
Tony was an accomplished high school baseball player being named one of the top 80
prospects in Northern California. After high school, he played baseball at American River College then headed to Indiana Tech University. In 2006 he was named 1st team All League and a NAIA All-American. He started his coaching career in 2009 at the high school level and continued until 2014. In the past few years, Tony has coached and provided private instruction for various academies in the Sacramento area. While coaching teams for Calfornia Prospects, Tony will be providing instruction at The Dugout.
Jason Barth
Head Coach
Jason played locally at Woodcreek High School, graduating in 2001 and going on to NCAA D1 Fresno State from 2001-2002. He found his love of the game and saw how the game of baseball brought joy to young players while he was an instructor at The Dusty Baker School of Baseball. After his playing career finished, he took his passion for baseball and continued to pass on his knowledge from 2014 to the present.
Jason Ott
Head Coach
Jason played at Bella Vista High School earning All League and continued his baseball career at Sierra College. He has almost 20 years of experience coaching at the high school level, starting in 1995 at Bella Vista (8 years), then to San Juan High School (9 years), and finally Granite Bay (2 years). After leaving the high school level, Jason got involved in travel baseball and has run a travel team for 5 years with great success. He is currently coaching the California Prospects 12u major team.
Chris Cottingham
Owner of Major League Performance and Strength
California Prospects Strength and Agility trainer
Chris will be joining the staff as the program's strength and agility trainer. After he finished up
his baseball career at University of Nevada-Reno, he worked for three years at Functional Athletic Specific Training (“FAST”) with many Division I UNR athletes on sport specific and overall fitness training. Three years ago, when opening MLP, he fulfilled his lifelong passion for fitness and performance-based training.
