Swing King: Tom DeAngelis tackles new challenges in Hudson Valley

Close relationships can be tough to develop in Minor League Baseball. With constant movement among players and coaches, it is not uncommon to go from working with somebody every day one season to not seeing them for three years.

However, continuity can breed a lot of success, as is the cast for Renegades hitting coach Tom DeAngelis, now in his third straight season working alongside Renegades manager James Cooper. The pair worked together in 2023 with the FCL Yankees and spent 2024 with the Tampa Tarpons, and are once again together in Hudson Valley this season.

Their relationship on and off the field is strong, so much so that DeAngelis and Cooper made the 20-hour drive up from Tampa to the Hudson Valley together after spring training.

“He’s the man,” DeAngelis said of Cooper. “We’ve learned to work really well together. We feed off each other. I think our guys can see our connection, and that builds trust in us. We come from similar backgrounds [as college coaches], he was in college for 12 years as a head coach. We see things from that lens. It’s awesome.”

While Cooper coached at Division I Grambling State, DeAngelis’s baseball journey took him through the Division II and III levels. He played collegiate baseball at D2 Seton Hill University, a small school in western Pennsylvania, under longtime head coach Mark Marizzaldi, who led the program to national prominence.

“My biggest takeaway from Seton Hill was the mentorship that head coach Mark Marizzaldi gave me,” DeAngelis said. “I credit him for learning mostly everything about baseball. Motivation, winning, he instilled all that in me.”