ABOUT US

OUR WHY

We started with our WHY in February of 2019.  Then a small group began to figure out the "how" and "what" of Boss Baseball. 

Boss Baseball is driven to bring the Central Oregon baseball community together through collaborative experiences that range from camps to clinics, trainings to teams.  We will support all aspects of our baseball community - from the Little Leagues to travel ball organizations, from high school programs to the collegiate leagues.  Our WHY is to help improve the baseball career for every player in every organization. 

DYLAN JACOB - INSTRUCTOR

Dylan grew up in San Diego and played baseball, basketball, and football. He chose to stick with baseball and was able to play in college. He was extremely blessed by past coaches who taught him the game and his coaches in college who gave him the confidence and knowledge he needed to succeed, which led to him being signed by the Grand Junction Rockies last summer where he unfortunately injured his back. However, that has now led to him finding a home with the Boss Baseball family. Attributing all of his success in baseball to God, his family, and previous coaches including April Pugh, Damian Jackson, Robby Adams, Daniel Stange, Tom Brunansky, and Dom Johnson. He is so stoked to start sharing his knowledge and love of baseball that was given to him from these coaches to the next generation of ball players.

JUSTIN WAKEM - INSTRUCTOR

Justin Wakem graduated from Western Oregon University in 2019 where he played 5 years of NCAA DIl baseball. In his time at Western Oregon University, Justin showcased a team leading .368 Batting Avg. alongside a career Batting Avg. over .300. Justin earned All West Region Honors along with First Team All Conference Honors. Along with spending time on various WCL summer ball teams including the Cowlitz Black Bears and Gresham Greywolves.

Since the completion of Justin’s playing career, he has been coaching at the college level where he coached position players, catchers, and hitters at Chemeketa Community College. Justin has also coached numerous Junior and High School athletes. Justin is very passionate about helping athletes crush their goals and play at the highest level possible, while also making the information extremely digestible for all talent levels.

Justin believes a great coach is a figure that can teach you invaluable lessons about baseball and life. Justin has numerous years of experience mentoring and training young athletes as they pursue their athletic dreams.

TREVOR CASTILLO -

INSTRUCTOR

Trevor Castillo, originally from Southern California, brings his passion for baseball and experience from his college playing days to his role as a hitting instructor in Bend, Oregon. Having learned from Tom Brunansky, a former MLB player, Trevor understands the nuances of both the mental and physical sides of hitting. He's dedicated to teaching young hitters how to improve their technique and build mental resilience, essential for success in baseball. Trevor's approach is all about making the learning process enjoyable and effective, ensuring each player develops a deeper love for the game while enhancing their skills. His goal is to guide players in becoming not just better hitters, but more confident and strategic athletes on the field.

KEVIN BOSS - OWNER

Kevin moved to Bend in the spring of 2012 after a successful 6 year NFL career highlighted by a Super Bowl XLII victory with the New York Giants. He founded Boss Sports Performance in 2014 with a desire to help athletes of all ages & sports reach their fullest athletic potential through comprehensive training programs.

Kevin began working intensively with professional baseball players in the winter of 2018-19 as Dan Strailey, Kyle Higashioka, Seth Brown, and Dalton Hurd, took to BSP in their offseason.  During this training campaign, Kevin developed a passion for baseball training and the grind that players face each and every season.  Around the same season, he was approached about developing a baseball organization out of Boss Sports Performance.  After months of planning, he launched the Boss Baseball 15U team in the summer of 2019.  After an incredibly successful summer, Kevin pushed forward with a small group of dedicated individuals to expand the Boss Baseball branch.  He cannot wait to see what this next stage of the organization will lead to.    

Ultimately, the mission of bringing the Central Oregon baseball community together, supporting coaches and players, and building a program with a unified philosophy, is one that Kevin is extremely excited to be embarking on. 

DAN STRAILY -

PITCHING INSTRUCTOR

EMILY WATSON - SOFTBALL CATCHING INSTRUCTOR

Emily was born and raised in Sherwood, Oregon. She played softball and basketball in high school, traveling and playing competitive softball during the off seasons.

She moved to Tucson, AZ her freshman year of college, and studied Family Science and Human Development. After her first year, she transferred back to Oregon and started attending Oregon State University- Cascades here in Bend. She changed her degree to Kinesiology, and decided she wanted to pursue PT school post-grad, which she will start applying to Summer 2023.

While learning about human movement and physiology during her undergrad, she also worked with Rebound Physical Therapy for the last two years. Her time there taught her about injury recovery and prevention. In addition to learning how to correctly activate muscle groups to ensure correct form during exercise. Emily is also a Certified Personal Trainer through NASM.

Emily is currently on the coaching staff for the Bend High School softball team. She has seen a huge need for catching coaches in Central Oregon and wants to help girls of all ages on their catching abilities and their confidence behind the plate.

JAMES CORDES - PRESIDENT

Coach Cordes comes to Boss Baseball with a vast array of baseball experience throughout the country. Born in Sun Valley, ID, Cordes attended the University of Redlands in Southern California where he played shortstop for the Bulldogs.  Shortly after graduating, he took an assistant position at Redlands East Valley High School.  Two years after that, Coach Cordes moved to Boston to attend Boston College for his Master's in English, along with the infield coaching position at UMass-Boston.  In 2008 at the age of 26, he returned to REVHS in California as the head coach and English teacher.  Cordes spent 8 seasons at the helm of REV where he amassed a 165-63-1 record, won 5 CBL Championships, won 5 Coach-of-the-Year awards, was named the Western Region Coach-of-the-Year in 2012, and named the San Bernardino County Coach-of-the-Year in 2016. During his tenure at REV, he had 5 players drafted in the MLB draft, 39 1st-team All-CBL players, and dozens of players sent off to play at all levels of college.  In the spring of 2018, sitting as the all-time leader in wins, league wins, and league titles for REV baseball, the high school retired Coach Cordes' coaching number 10 in a ceremony on the field. 

While coaching at REV, Coach Cordes was lucky enough to land a summer coaching position in the prestigious Cape Cod Baseball League with the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox.  There, studying under the tutelage of the legendary Scott Pickler, Cordes honed his coaching skills, namely in infield, hitting, and pitching.  In 2015, he was fortunate to be a part of the Y-D Red Sox championship team.  

After leaving REVHS in 2016, Coach Cordes spent as year as the infield coach for Riverside Community College and he and his wife, Leah, spent the year planning their transition to Bend.  In 2017, they made the move and set up roots in Central Oregon.  Coach Cordes spent 4 years at the helm of the Bend Bucks, while also founding Boss Baseball with Kevin Boss in 2019. He has skippered both AAA squads during the 2020 COVID summer and the 2022 campaign. Coach Cordes and his wife have a son, Quinn, and a daughter, Addison.

RILEY DRONGESEN - INSTRUCTOR

Riley grew up mostly in the Sacramento area. He played 4 years at NCAA Div. I University of the Pacific where he majored in Sports Medicine and minored in Psychology, and took a medical redshirt year at NAIA Menlo College. He played 2 years in the St. Louis Cardinals organization as a catcher, and moved around after his release for several college coaching positions before settling down in the Bend area with his family during the COVID-19 pandemic. He’s coached in the NWAC, NAIA, and NCAA Division II ranks. 

Riley and his family been vacationing to Bend for years, and his first college playing experience was in Bend against the Elks. The area immediately stood out in his mind, and he one day dreamed of moving here. When his family got the opportunity to move here in January 2021, they jumped at the chance and have never been happier. The people, activities, outdoors, and sense of belonging have been so special.

Riley has stayed involved in coaching baseball after he finished playing for several reasons. “Mudita,” or joy originating from delighting in other peoples’ achievements, is a tenant that he thinks the world could use a little more of. Riley is extremely fortunate to be able to experience mudita every day when he coaches or is around people who are striving to attain their goals. Not only is he passionate about players' achievement, but he also loves providing education for parents and other coaches in the area. Supplying quality information to anyone who is interested at the lowest possible cost is the ultimate goal.

JOSH GRAHAM -

PITCHING INSTRUCTOR

TROY VIOLA - INSTRUCTOR

Troy Viola was born in Pasadena, CA, and moved to Bend, Oregon, when he was 10 years old. He played shortstop under former MLB players Alan Embree and Richie Sexson at Summit High School and also lettered in football, working as a QB under offensive coordinator and former NFL quarterback Drew Bledsoe. He won state titles in both football and baseball for Summit as a senior during the 2015-16 school year. (Kevin Boss was the TE coach for Summit when Troy was playing).

Troy went on to play collegiate baseball, getting his major in communications and minor in business finance from San Jose State University. While he was there, Troy started all 70 games at third base for the Spartans while receiving the Iron Spartan Award at SJSU (the University's Hardest Working Male Athlete).

In 2021 Troy transferred to Purdue University in the B1G, where he was a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar and was one of four student-athletes from all the spring sports to be recognized for a flawless 4.0 GPA. He earned the elite mark in his Leadership, Technology, and Innovation Master's Program.

For Purdue, Troy started all 50 games at third base, making him Purdue's only infielder to start every game at the same position. In Big Ten play, he led the team with a .383 average, 7 doubles, 21 RBI, and a .495 on-base percentage. He impressed defensively all season, committing just five errors while compiling a .961 fielding percentage (.979 in Big Ten play), which had him recognized as Purdue's Defensive Player of the Year. He also made a leaping catch in the Big Ten Tournament, a gem that earned the No. 1 spot on SportCenter's Top 10 plays that night. Troy had five-RBI games vs. Michigan and Northwestern, which put him on a short list of six Boilermakers since 2001 with two five-RBI games in a season and he homered twice in the series-opening win vs. Michigan, posting just the fourth multi-homer game by a Boilermaker in Alexander Field history. He graduated from Purdue in 2022.

Troy currently plays professional baseball for the Boise Hawks in the Pioneer League and comes home during his off-seasons to work out at Boss Sports Performance.

TOMMY NIEBERGALL - INSTRUCTOR

Tommy grew up in Portland, Oregon. He played baseball at the University of Nevada where he received his bachelors degree in secondary health education.

This is his fifth year as the PE teacher and athletic director at Three Rivers School in Sunriver. He wants to provide the kids who want to develop their skills as baseball players every opportunity to do so because he was always blessed to be surrounded by great players, coaches and support staff throughout his playing career. 

Tommy will be offering pitching, hitting, infield, and outfield instruction

Tommy’s entire life he was blessed to have great coaches around him, and most importantly to him, his dad, who was a former pitching instructor in the Philadelphia Phillies organization, then the collegiate level, and finally the high school level. Seeing the joy that his dad got out of helping kids learn how to play the game and experience success is a very large part of why he wants to continue to help kids develop and understand the game, especially those who have a desire to compete at a high level. He attributes his learning of life lessons to things that occurred on the baseball field and wants to continue to share those lessons with others.

TAYLOR SANDERS -INSTRUCTOR

Taylor is from Lake Oswego, Oregon and was a three-year starter at Lake Oswego High School. He went onto play at North Dakota State University, where he played catcher/outfield. In his senior year he hit .290 with 42 hits in 145 at bats, compiled 18 RBI, five doubles, one home run, eight walks, and three sacrifice flies. That season, he was voted to the All-Summit League Second Team.

After college, Taylor coached the 503 Baseball 13U Team based out of Milwaukie, Oregon, and from 2016-2018, he was the Hood River Valley High School Hitting Coach.

Taylor has found a home here with Boss Baseball, and we are pumped to have his expertise in catching and hitting. He is offering both catching and hitting lessons.

Interested in working with Coach Sanders? Email Taylor@boss-baseball.com with any inquiries!