Aaron Puffer - Owner / General Manager
Born and raised in Chicago Illinois he has a passion for baseball and helping kids, second to none in the industry. As a pitcher, he completed high school with honors and attended Purdue University, on a full scholarship in 1989. He was selected Big Ten Player of the week multiple times and finished the year with a no hitter. He then transferred to Creighton University and helped the Blue Jays finish 3rd nationally at the 1991 College World Series. He set a school record with an ERA of 1.91 his junior year and set another record with 13 saves his Senior Year. He earned Missouri Valley all Conference honors as a result and was drafted by the California Angels in 1993. He helped his minor league team win the Northwest League Championships later that year.
After going back to graduate school and getting his second degree in Occupational Therapy he started MLB in Chicago and volunteered at his former high school, Glenbard East, beginning his coaching career. He began running “Showcases” and started a Select Organization and competed on a national level. He was hired by Perfect Game USA as their Midwest Camp Director, and won two National Championships along the way. After running teams in L.A. and then Dallas he found a home here in the Greater Houston area. Since arriving in Houston, no one has brought more college recruiters in from out of town to recruit local players, than MLB. He has already contracted over “100” Universities since his arrival two years ago, providing a unique opportunity for local players to been seen by programs from out of state too. Puffers’ network of college coaches is endless and he shares info on players with literally hundreds of College Recruiters and Pro Scouts.
Coach Puffer has spent the past ten years running special events as well as select baseball teams. He has helped more than “150” players find their way into college over this time period. He surrounds his players by professional coaches and ensures player development. With the extremely large network of college coaches he knows, marketing his players on a national level comes easy, it’s “who you know”. He is proud of his large network of friends in the industry and is happy to share it will all his players.
Taylor Bales – Partner / Roving Coach / AGM / Coordinator of Player Development
Taylor Bales is a local baseball prodigy who has a passion for Teaching the Game that is hard to Match, which makes him a perfect addition to our Hurricane Staff. He will act as our Primary Roving Hitting Instructor and Assistant General Manager when it comes to our Company Development and overall Expansion efforts of our Travel Organization. He Grew up locally and was a 3 year letterman in Baseball, Graduating in 1992 from Pasadena High School. He was voted "All State" and "All Greater Houston" both as a Jr. and a Sr. He was then Recruited by the University of Houston and due to injury ended up attending Lee jr. College and entered the Draf after posting two more years of "All Conference" Honors at the collegiate level. His Minor League career with the Kansas City Royals was spent as a catcher, and definite leader of his squad.
Taylor takes a very aggressive and passionate approach to practice and play. It stems into his Pure Power Hitting Style which our Organization adopts with open arms. Taylor has been teaching players of all ages, including peers in the professional ranks, of how ot maximize their power in the swing plane and hit with increased bat speed. All the while, he stresses keeping the the Bat on plane with the pitch, maximizing time spent in the hitting zone. He has a tremendous passion for helping young players develop into young men who respect the game and work hard. With his work ethic and teaching skills, we appreciate Taylor spending time with our Organization, time away from his lovely wife and Daughters, Paige and Paisley.
Reese Smith – Partner / Head Coach / Coordinator of Player Marketing
Reese Smith, our most recent addition to the Hurricane Coaching Staff is a welcomed one. Head Coach Smith will also be heading our Player Development department, which will twice insure all of our players will get into a good college of their choice. He himself was a high school standout and earned a college scholarship to LeTourneau Univeristy. While attending the university with intentions of gaining a business degree he earned the right to be a four year lettermen starting as a freshman. He was selected All Conference in 1996, Leading his team through the Big State Conference. The second time he received the honor was in 1999, and not only was he selected all conference but all region and an NCAA All American. His passion for Playing the Game obviously speaks for itself.
He has over 13 years of expeirience working with young men on "power pitching" and now has a real passion for teaching the game within the game, in his own words. His passion level equals all of the Coaches on our staff and only adds to our value and level of knowledge we have to share with our players. He can speak from experience as to how much hard work can pay off. Many young men have already benefitted from working with coach Smith in the past and know we can share him with our whole organization.
Reese will also be heading our Player Developement Department which willl allow him control of helping choose which colleges wil be hired and priority colleges to add to our network. He will also be helping educate players and parents on the recruiting and selection process when it comes to marketing each player on a national level. He will also play a vital role in the Marketing of each one of our seniors to appropriate programs thoughout the recruiting process. Coach Smith is a big Addition to our Growing program. The Hurricanes are Happy to Have a new Partner in Mr. Smith.
A.J. Kotchavar - Head Coach / Instructor
A.J. Kotchavar was welcomed to our organization in an attempt to expedite our influence here in Texas with his local knowledge of the area and how things work here in Texas which might be different from other regions in the country. He is a local graduate of Spring High School and went on to play in College for East Texas Baptist University before transferring to Sam Houston State University where he was named to the American Southwest Conference All-Academic Team and the Dean’s List. He enjoyed playing summers with the Big States Summer Collegiate League. After graduating from College A.J. went on to play for the League City Apollo’s, now the Coastal King fish, of the Continental League. While there he hit .309 with 17 RBI’s in 55 career at bats and was invited to workouts with both the Cincinnati Reds and the Milwaukee Brewers Organizations.
He began his coaching career shortly after retiring by taking the Hitting Coach position for the Tigres Del Caribe in the Liga Obrera Winter League. After returning to Texas he became an Instructor and Consultant for The All Star Academy in Conroe Texas. Coach Kotchavar accepted the Bull Pen Coach Position for the Corpus Christi Hooks, the Houston Astros AA Affiliate in the Texas League. He also offered his services as a consultant to the Legends Sports Complex in the Woodlands, TX. Since he has moved to Conroe he has accepted a position with us here at Major League Beginnings as a scouting coordinator and Associate Head Coach. He has worked very hard and in 2009 accepted a Job with the Washington Nationals Major League Club as an area Scout covering the South Texas Region. He has already made an impact on our local progress as an organization.
Doug Baker - Roving Coach / Instructor
Doug Baker was born and raised in Lacona Iowa before moving to California and becoming an average High School talent batting in the 9 hole for his High School Team. Doug, following the footsteps of Big Brother Dave, wanted a shot a professional baseball. Not having the Skills of his older Brother, Doug had to work that much harder for his career to develop. After graduating high school Doug chose the Jr. College route where he really developed and caught up with all the others who had passed him by. Doug went on to have a very successful Major League Career with the Detroit Tigers of seven years and a World Series Title and Ring to Show for it. Doug was a member of the 1984 World Champion Detroit Tigers and brings an unimaginable amount of experience with him. He literally worked his way from one end of the spectrum to the extreme opposite end by winning a World Series and finishing on Top Literally (see attached photo).
After Doug retired from playing Major League Baseball he began a very successful career as a professional scout, where he went on to collect yet another World Series Ring with the Atlanta Braves Organization. After completing his Ten year as a major league scout, Doug started a family and has been working as a private instructor and scout ever since. Aaron Puffer and Doug Baker met while working together for Perfect Game USA back in 2001, when they decided to partner up and start Major League Beginnings LLC. Over the years MLB has grown slow and steady and offers a product that is second to none, in large part to Doug’s efforts and love for the game.
Dave Baker - Roving Coach / Instructor
Dave Baker was born and raised in Lacona Iowa before moving to California and becoming a very sought after baseball prospect. He was drafted coming out of high school but chose to accept a full scholarship to attend UCLA postponing his professional career in pursuit of a college degree. Dave set many impressive records while attending UCLA, of which many still stand today. In the three years he played for UCLA before being drafted in the 11th round by the Toronto Blue Jays, he set a record for total number of at bats in a career with 738. He can also be very proud of his 152 runs batted in and his 34 Home Runs which lead the organization during his college career. Dave was traded for Don Cooper to the Minnesota Twins organization and continued to play a solid 3B with over a %.800 fielding percentage and hitting nearly .300 over his career.
He has since opened MLB Midwest in Lacona Iowa and has acted as a Head Coach helping bring home multiple national championships to MLB in the past 6 years. He is one of the elite hitting instructors in the country and we are very happy to have him a part of our staff when available. He has a “special way” with kids and can get them to understand proper hitting mechanics and the need to work out daily hitting balls off a tee to improve muscle memory. Since Dave has been coaching with us, our Hurricane Organization can see much improvement in terms of our approach off the field and our results on the field.
Coach Baker has helped numerous young men improve and develop into very good hitters. He can be coaching one of our teams or he can be instructing in Iowa at his facility, but we know he always gives 100% to each of the players he is in touch with. Dave makes our organization better and I hope all our players take advantage of spending lots of time with him before taking on college baseball. Those players who do get to play with us and spend time with Coach Baker definitely leave with a better concept of what it takes to be a good hitter.
