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Super Cooper: Yankees name James Cooper manager of the Renegades

Renegades feature all-new field staff for 2025, familiar faces on support staff
James Cooper has been named the 20th manager of the Hudson Valley Renegades. (New York Yankees)
January 24, 2025

Wappingers Falls, N.Y. (Jan. 24, 2025) – The New York Yankees announced their minor league field and support staffs for the 2025 season on Friday. James Cooper will take over as the manager of the Hudson Valley Renegades, the Yankees’ High-A affiliate. Cooper becomes the 20th manager in team history,

Wappingers Falls, N.Y. (Jan. 24, 2025) – The New York Yankees announced their minor league field and support staffs for the 2025 season on Friday. James Cooper will take over as the manager of the Hudson Valley Renegades, the Yankees’ High-A affiliate.

Cooper becomes the 20th manager in team history, and the fifth in five years during the Yankees era. He replaces Nick Ortiz, who guided the Renegades to a franchise record 73 wins and an appearance in the South Atlantic League Championship Series in 2024. Under his tutelage the Renegades had their 12th consecutive winning season, and 15th in the last 16 seasons. Since the beginning of the 2012 season, the Renegades have the best winning percentage (.573) in Minor League Baseball.

He is joined on the all-new field staff by Pitching Coach Demetre Kokoris (1st season), Hitting Coach Tom DeAngelis (1st season), Defensive Coaches Caleb Hamilton (1st season) and Teuris Olivares (1st season). The support staff features four returners in Clubhouse Manager Ryan Shute (5th season), Athletic Trainer Adaric Kelly (2nd season), Strength & Conditioning Coach Dylan Lidge (2nd season), and Advance Scouting Analyst Devin Clementi (2nd season). Video & Tech Assistant Dominic Cox (1st season), joins the Renegades as the lone newcomer on the support staff.

“I’m honored to join the Renegades family and to lead this incredible team to a special season. The Renegades have a proud tradition of excellence and an amazing fan base,” said Cooper. “I can’t wait to get to work with our talented players and staff as we build a season to remember. I’m looking forward to developing our players and seeing all the fans go crazy as we make them proud at Heritage Financial Park.”

James Cooper

Cooper, 42, begins his first season as the manager of the Renegades in 2025, and his third season overall as a minor league manager in the Yankees organization. He spent the 2024 season as the skipper for the Single-A Tampa Tarpons of the Florida State League, and managed the FCL Yankees in 2023, where he was named Florida Complex League Manager of the Year. Under his guidance, the Tarpons led the FSL in Stolen Bases (242) ranked second in AVG (.239), Hits (982) and Doubles (204), and fourth in OPS (.701). That came on the heels of his FCL team pacing its league in runs, hits, triples, RBIs, AVG, OBP, SLG and OPS in 2023.

Before managing in the Yankees system he was a defensive coach for one season with the FCL Yankees, where he won the FCL Championship in 2022 as part of a coaching staff that featured 2023 Renegades manager Sergio Santos, current Yankees assistant pitching coach Preston Claiborne, and 2024 Renegades hitting coach Rick Guarno.

Before joining the Yankees, Cooper previously served as the head baseball coach at Grambling State University for 12 seasons from 2010 through 2021. He led the Tigers to the 2010 Southwestern Athletic Conference championship, and was named SWAC Head Coach of the Year in 2010 and 2017. He led the team to the SWAC Tournament 10 of the 11 years it was held in his tenure, and finished in the top two teams in the SWAC West Division in each of his final five full seasons at the helm.

Cooper attended Grambling State as student and was a three-time All-SWAC performer, including First Team All-SWAC honors in his senior year. He was also involved as an assistant coach at USA Baseball’s National Team Development Program from 2018 through 2021, coaching both the 16U and 18U teams.

The Houston Astros selected Cooper in the 33rd round of the 2004 First-Year Player Draft and played 103 games over two minor league seasons for the organization. During his two years with the Tri-City ValleyCats in the New York-Penn League, Cooper batted .249/.342/.344 (79-for-317) with 3 HR and 43 RBIs. He also played a season with the Sussex Skyhawks of the Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball in 2006.

Demetre Kokoris

Kokoris begins his first year as the Renegades pitching coach and first in the Yankees organization. He previously coached for three seasons each in the Texas Rangers (2022-24) and Toronto Blue Jays (2019-21) organizations. Kokoris spent the 2023 and 2024 seasons as the Bullpen Coach for the Triple-A Round Rock Express, and was the pitching coach for the Single-A Down East Wood Ducks in 2022, where he led the staff to a 3.84 ERA, the second-best in the Carolina League.

Prior to joining the Rangers organization, he was the pitching coach for the Short-Season A Vancouver Canadians (2019-20) and was a rehab pitching coach (2021) with the Blue Jays. Before entering the professional coaching ranks, Kokoris was a collegiate pitching coach at Chemeketa Community College, Point Loma Nazarene University, and Santa Barbara City College. He has also served as the pitching coach for the Greek National Team since 2021 when he joined in advance of the 2021 European Baseball Championships in Turin, Italy.

He received a bachelor’s degree from the University of South Carolina in 2006, where he was the student manager of the Gamecock Baseball team under legendary head coach Ray Tanner, where the team reached two College World Series in his time at USC. He received an M.B.A. from Cal State Fullerton in 2010 with a concentration in Applied Sport Psychology, where he was a Graduate Assistant Coach under Dave Serrano and George Horton, reaching the College World Series in both 2007 and 2009.

Tom DeAngelis

DeAngelis begins his first season as the Renegades hitting coach and third year in the Yankees organization. He previously served as the hitting coach with Single-A Tampa in 2024 and with the FCL Yankees in 2023, working with Cooper at each stop. Under his guidance, the Tarpons ranked second in the Florida State League in AVG (.239), hits (982) and doubles (204), and fourth in OPS (.701), a strong performance after the 2023 FCL Yankees led its league in runs, hits, triples, RBIs, AVG, OBP, SLG and OPS.

DeAngelis joined the Yankees after eight years as an assistant coach at Baldwin Wallace University, where he rose to the role of Associate Head Coach in 2022. In his time there, the Yellowjackets advanced to the NCAA Division III Tournament four times, and reached the D3 College World Series in 2022. DeAngelis was also named the Division III Assistant Coach of the Yearby the American Baseball Coaches Association in 2022. He also coached for two years at his alma mater, Seton Hill (Pa.) University, where he helped the powerhouse program to two NCAA Division II Tournaments, including a D2 College World Series appearance in 2014.

He graduated from Seton Hill with a bachelor's degree in 2011, and received his M.B.A. from Seton Hill in 2014. As a student-athlete, DeAngelis was a three-year starter at third base, helping the program to its first-ever WVIAC championship and two straight Division II Atlantic Regional berths. He had a career .331 batting average, and was tabbed a Division II All-American as a senior.

Caleb Hamilton

Hamilton begins his first year as a Renegades defensive coach and first year in the Yankees organization. Recently retired after a 10-year playing career which saw him appear in 26 games across two seasons in the Major Leagues with the Minnesota Twins in 2022 and Boston Red Sox in 2023, Hamilton embarks on his first season as a professional coach in 2025. During the 2024 season, Hamilton played in 39 games with the Rocket City Trash Pandas, the Double-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels. He was drafted by Minnesota in the 23rd round of the 2016 First-Year Player Draft out of Oregon State University, where he was an All-Pac-12 performer for the Beavers. Despite not catching in college, Hamilton made 323 of his 574 professional appearances as a catcher, and he played at least one game at all nine positions.

Teuris Olivares

A long-time and well-respected coach in the Yankees organization, Olivares embarks on his first season as a Renegades defensive coach and his 15th season as a coach in the Yankees system. He served as a coach at the Rookie and Short-Season A level for the Yankees since 2011, with stops in the DSL (2011-14; 21-24), Staten Island (2015-17, 20), and Pulaski (2018-19), where Olivares has mentored many of the homegrown Yankees players of the past decade and a half.

Olivares began coaching immediately after a 15-year playing career which spanned from 1996 through 2010. He spent nine seasons (96-04) in the Yankees system, reaching as high as Triple-A. He then played six seasons in the independent Atlantic League of Professional Baseball for the Newark Bears (2005, 10), Road Warriors (2006, where he was a teammate of 2024 Renegades manager Nick Ortiz), Somerset Patriots (2007-09) and the Camden Riversharks (2010).

He played all four infield positions in his career, but mainly appeared at shortstop and second base. Olivares also competed in the 2001 Baseball World Cup, where he was the starting shortstop on the Dominican Republic team.

Dylan Lidge (l.) prepares to fist bump Zak Wasserman as Adaric Kelly (r.) looks on next in line before the Renegades playoff game with Greensboro on Sept. 10, 2024.Dave Janosz

Ryan Shute

Shute begins his fifth year as the Renegades Home Clubhouse Manager and seventh in the Yankees organization, previously working for the Short-Season A Staten Island Yankees in 2019 and Rookie-level Pulaski in 2018. Before joining the Yankees, Shute was the Visiting Clubhouse Manager for the Carolina Mudcats during the 2017 season. A native of the Hudson Valley and 2011 graduate of Our Lady of Lourdes High School, Shute spent four summers as a Stadium Operations and Groundskeeping Assistant for the Renegades from 2012-15.

Adaric Kelly

Kelly begins his second season as the Renegades Athletic Trainer, and his third season in the Yankees organization, having spent the 2023 season as an Athletic Trainer for the FCL Yankees. Born in San Nicolas, Aruba, Kelly attended Trinity Christian Academy in Lake Worth, Florida, and was drafted in the 28th round of the 2010 First-Year Player Draft by the Toronto Blue Jays as a right-handed pitcher. He played four seasons in the Blue Jays organization, reaching Single-A Lansing in 2014 and appearing in 73 career games.

Following his playing career, Kelly attended the University of Florida, where he served as an Intern Athletic Trainer for the Gators nationally-ranked baseball program before joining the Yankees in 2023.

Dylan Lidge

Lidge begins his second season with the Renegades and third in the Yankees organization as a strength and conditioning coach in 2024. He spent the 2023 season as the strength and conditioning coach for the Single-A Tampa Tarpons. Before joining the Yankees, Lidge served as a strength and conditioning coach at Cressey Sports Performance, a high-performance training facility for athletes located in Florida. He also spent time as an assistant baseball coach at Dominican University in River Forest, Illinois in 2020 and worked as an instructor at Fattfro Zone Baseball, Playball USA and GrandeFit in the Chicagoland area.

Lidge earned his bachelor’s degree in kinesiology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2017 and his master's degree in kinesiology with a concentration in biomechanics from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2021. He interned with the University of Illinois at Chicago strength and conditioning department, and also served as a teacher assistant. His twin brother, Ryan, was drafted by the Yankees in the 20th round of the 2017 First-Year Player Draft and played in the organization from 2017-2019, reaching as high as Triple-A. His cousin, Brad, had a 10-year MLB career with Houston, Philadelphia and Washington, and won the 2008 World Series with the Phillies.

Devin Clementi

Begins his second season as an Advance Scouting Analyst with the Renegades, and fourth season in the Yankees organization after serving in the same role with Single-A Tampa in 2023 and spending the 2022 season as an Associate in the Yankees’ Quantitative Analysis department. Prior to joining the Yankees, Clementi served as a Video & Data Analyst with USA Baseball in 2021. He earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Fordham University and his master’s degree in applied analytics from Columbia University.

Dominic Cox

Cox begins his first year as the Video and Tech Assistant for the Renegades and his third in the Yankees organization after serving in the same role with Single-A Tampa in 2024 and the FCL Yankees in 2023. Cox began working for the Yankees after playing four years of college baseball – three years at Rice University and one at Prairie View A&M University. He graduated from Rice in 2021 with a bachelor's degree in Sport and Fitness Administration/Management, and earned his M.B.A. from Prairie View A&M in 2023. On the diamond, Cox hit .286/.394/.538 in his lone season with the Panthers, finishing second on the team in OPS (.932). He was also teammate at Rice with former Renegades infielder Ford Proctor in 2018.

The Renegades managerial job has become a launching pad in the five years under the New York Yankees affiliation, with Cooper following Ortiz (2024), Santos (2023), Tyson Blaser (2022) and Dan Fiorito (2021) in the post. Ortiz, Blaser and Fiorito have all moved up in player development into coordinator roles, and Santos was recently named the manager of the Triple-A Charlotte Knights in the Chicago White Sox system after guiding the Double-A Birmingham Barons to a Southern League Championship in 2024.

ABOUT THE HUDSON VALLEY RENEGADES

The Hudson Valley Renegades have served as the High-A affiliate of the New York Yankees since 2021 and are three-time South Atlantic League North Division Champions. Since 1994, the Renegades have provided the Hudson Valley with affordable, family-friendly entertainment through the game of baseball at Heritage Financial Park, part of the award-winning Dutchess County Parks system. Season Ticket Memberships and Group Tickets for the 2025 season are on sale now, and may be purchased at www.hvrenegades.com or over the phone by calling (845) 838-0094.

ABOUT DIAMOND BASEBALL HOLDINGS

Diamond Baseball Holdings (DBH) was formed in 2021 to support, promote and enhance Minor League Baseball Clubs affiliated with Major League Baseball through professional management, best practices, innovation and investment (DiamondBaseballHoldings.com).