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Jim Sakas

Associate Scout (TEX)

Advanced Pitching Instructor

Jim Sakas has been coaching baseball for over 40 years and is the son of legendary local pitching coach Steve Sakas. After his playing days at Illinois State University, he was named the head baseball coach at Niles North H.S. After 17 years as a head coach Jim resigned to spend more time with his family. He retired as the winningest coach in school history which included conference and regional championship teams. In 2017 he retired after a 33-year teaching career in special education. This experience makes him an expert in differentiated instruction, this allows him to identify and communicate with students of various learning styles, and abilities. He believes coaching is an extension of the classroom environment.

Coach Sakas has been one of the most successful and sought after pitching coaches in the Chicagoland area for many years. He has coached pitchers as young as age 7 up to the Major League level. He coached Christian Friedrich, a 2008 1st round draft and former MLB starting pitcher. Jim and his father Steve also coached 2-time World Series Champion pitcher George Kontos (Giants). Jim also coached current MLB relief pitcher Ryan Borucki (Toronto Blue Jays) who attended Mundelein H.S. He also has two pitchers in the MLB pipeline, Brendan Murphy LHP, 2017 4th round pick of the Milwaukee Brewers (Mundelein H.S.), and Jean Casanova RHP 2016 draft by the Texas Rangers (Waukegan H.S.).

For the 2022 season, 11 of his pitchers can be found college D1 rosters and 10 on various levels of collegiate baseball. Recently he had a high school freshman commit to a power 5 school in the SEC.

Coach Sakas is a firm believer in teaching his students to pitch with rhythm. This rhythm combined with solid mechanics allows pitchers to repeat a biomechanically sound motion thus creating efficient momentum, power, confidence, and command. He also takes the time to train his students to become pitching coaches themselves. Jim’s greatest strength is his ability to get his pitchers to understand the biomechanics of pitching. He preaches kinesthetic awareness, ball flight and location as vehicles for pitchers to troubleshoot and coach themselves. He encourages his older pitchers to begin training younger pitchers to increase their own understanding of safe and efficient pitching mechanics and is available for basic and advanced pitching camps for teams.


Jim's Training Costs:

Private Training (30 min/each)
Program Players: $60.00
Non-Program Players: $70.00

Semi-Private Training (2 players for 30 min)
Program Player: $40/player
Non-Program: $45/player

EMAIL: [email protected] for current availability/scheduling