Welcome to the online biography of Chris Sinacori

PitchInside.com was created by Coach Chris Sinacori whose knowledge of baseball comes from his 20 plus years of experience playing and coaching above the high school level. He has been mentored by some of the best coaches in the business including the 2004 World Series Champions Chicago White Sox Pitching Coach Don Cooper, as well as 6 other current MLB coaches.

Sinacori grew up on Long Island, New York, was the recipient of the 1988 Diamond Award, and also received the Athlete of the Decade for Long Island from 1980-1990. He was a two time USA Today All-American at MacArthur High School, and was selected for the USA 18U Olympic Team that went on to win the gold medal in Australia against Cuba, where he pitched against China, Australia, Canada, and Tai Pei. Sinacori was called in the First Round by the Minnesota Twins in the 1988 draft but turned down $250,000 to go to college on a baseball scholarship at the University of Tennessee where he spent two years before transferring to Florida International University until drafted in 1991 by the Los Angles Dodgers after his junior year. Sinacori then went on to play 7 years as a professional player with the Dodgers, the Blue Jays, the Marlins, and the Diamondbacks while pursuing his degree in psychology from UT in the off seasons.

In September of 1997 Sinacori moved into the realm of coaching, taking his first post at the prestigious baseball program of Arizona State University. Under Sinacori’s guidance the 1998 ASU pitching staff came within one game of recording its sixth National Championship in Omaha finishing second in the nation. Ten future professional pitchers highlighted Sinacori’s first college staff, including a pair of First Round draft picks. Along with helping bring in a Top Ten recruiting class, the pitching staff led the PAC-10 in strikeouts.

Deciding to switch gears, Sinacori then went into coaching professional baseball, and for the next four years was with the Chicago White Sox organization. Here he mentored eight current Big League pitchers and six First Round draft picks. He was put in charge of the pitching rehabilitation program organization-wide, and went on special assignment to the Dominican Republic in 2001 to help scout prospects for Chicago’s Farm System. The following year Sinacori was honored with spending time in the Big Leagues in September with pitching coach, Don Cooper.

After his four year stint with the Sox, Sinacori rejoined the Arizona State baseball staff for the 2003 season. The pitching staff became a benchmark for success on the mound helping guide the Devils to a 54-14 record while leading the PAC-10 in ERA and strikeouts. The 3.32 ERA ranked eighth in the NCAA in 2003, and was the lowest since 1974 at ASU, while being the third lowest in school history overall. In addition the 2003 pitching staff combined for ten shutouts to mark the most by a Sun Devil squad since 1976. Nine pitchers from Sinacori’s staff were selected in the 2003 MLB draft, while Sinacori was a finalist for the 2003 NCAA Pitching Coach of the Year. In 2004, the Devils went on to lead the PAC 10 in saves, and the pitching staff had seven more pitchers drafted. The recruiting dominance continued with Sinacori’s help over the course of his three years at ASU, having all three classes named Top Ten in the nation with one even being a Top Five class.

In 2005, Sinacori was brought in to Wake Forest University as the Pitching Coach and Recruiting Coordinator to help rebuild a program that was last in the ACC out of twelve teams, and last in almost every pitching category. He helped guide and mentor a pitching staff that was beset with injuries, and despite not having their top two starters for most of the season, the Demon Deacons pitching staff improved in every single pitching category. In just one season, the program made the ACC tournament and carved its ERA down from 6.21 to 4.65.

After a successful rebuilding process at WFU, Sinacori decided to return to Arizona in 2007 to coach for the Seattle Mariners in the Arizona League. His team went on to win the League Championship, and his pitching staff led the league in ERA, strikeouts, and almost every pitching category. In his short time with the organization he was asked to run Instructional League, which calls upon the most talented younger players to attend for extra instruction, and he was named Interim Pitching Coordinator. His experience in college baseball and knowledge of high school players landed him the invitation of attending the 2007 Major League Amateur Draft where he sat amidst the “War Room” in Seattle helping to evaluate players nationwide prior to their selection in the draft.

In addition to his collegiate and professional baseball commitments, Sinacori has also been giving private pitching instruction for the past eleven years in the metropolitan area of Phoenix Arizona, one of the largest baseball mecca’s in the country due to its many Spring Training sites, Arizona League teams, and local college and university baseball programs. He has coached ten First Round picks and has spent time throwing bullpens with pitchers such as Curt Schilling and Mark Buerhle. He has counseled parents and his students on how to navigate through the world of college recruiting and the decision between going pro versus becoming a college athlete. He is frequently called upon for his expertise in pitching mechanics and the mental aspect of the game, because of his innate ability to relate to players at any level, and his knowledge is now going nationwide with his website PitchInside.com.

Coach Sinacori currently works at Fischer Sports, a premier athletic rehabilitation and conditioning center in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Here, as the Head Pitching Instructor, he works closely with many of the Major and Minor League pitchers, as well as a myriad of high school and college players, coaching, mentoring, and assisting in their rehab programs. He has contacts galore in both college and professional baseball, and he speaks and works daily with both NCAA and MLB players, coaches and scouts. He has been involved in the SEC, ACC and PAC-10 conferences, as well as MLB and MILB. Sinacori is one of the few coaches in the industry to have this fusion between baseball’s biggest arenas of college and pro as both player and coach. This experience has enabled Coach Sinacori to create PitchInside.com in an effort to share his wealth of knowledge and insightful information to give players at all levels the opportunity to succeed more rapidly. Never before have the two worlds of college and pro baseball been presented so candidly or made so easily accessible.