John Fisher
Director of Player Development, Principal
Coach Fisher has been coaching baseball for more than 25 years. He has coached youth, high school, Division I college (UCSB), professional (California Angels), and international (Australia) teams. He played Division I college, professional and international level baseball as well. In 2009 he was selected to coach the Northern California (12U) team in the California Cup competition against Southern Cal. Coach fisher conducts private lessons as well as player and coaches training for as many as 9 different Bay Area youth baseball organizations. He works with over 1,000 Bay Area players each year. Many of his players and students have gone on to play college (13 this year), professional and major league baseball. Coach Fisher has a graduate education in sports psychology. He spend two years working with renowned baseball psychologist Dr. Ken Ravizza and has worked with many elite mature and professional athletes in the area of mental skills training.
Coach Saake has coached 11 youth baseball teams over the past 8 seasons, from those players just starting, to the advanced player getting ready to enter high school. Coach Saake also works as an instructor each summer at the Redwood Christian Baseball Camps.
Coach Shinkwin played college baseball at Cal State East Bay where he was an outstanding catcher and hitter. Coach Shinkwin has been a coach with the Baseball USA program the past three years. In addition, he conducts lessons with players, especially focusing on catching, fielding, and hitting skills.
Coach Santich-Hughes was a 4 year starter at San Jose State University as a catcher. In 2008 he became the pitching coach at San Jose State, and filled the same roll at Cal State Monterey Bay in 2009. In 2010 he was named the head varsity coach at Acalanes High School. In his first year as head coach, he took Acalanes to the NCS tournament for the first time in 3 years.
Coach Fitch was drafted out of Mt. Carmel High School (San Diego) in the 40th round by the San Diego Padres. He played two years at Arizona Western College before transferring to San Jose State as a pitcher/catcher. Since 2006, he has been a pitching coach at the high school and junior college levels. In 2009, he was West Valley Junior College’s pitching coach and his staff was ranked in the top 2 of every major statistical category in their conference. “Fitch” continues to work personally with 9 pitchers who have been selected in the major league draft over the past 4 years. He is also the current the pitching coach at Acalanes High School in Lafayette, CA.