ABOUT
Joey Gomes
Owner, Instructor
Joey Gomes is a distinguished hitting instructor and former professional baseball player, renowned for his innovative and results-driven coaching methods. With over twenty years of experience, he specializes in player development, focusing on both group training and personalized hitting lessons. His career, spanning a decade in professional baseball, laid the foundation for his successful coaching tenure. Joey Gomes compiled a career batting average of .300 with 101 home runs and 526 RBI in his 937-game career spanning 10 years.
Based in Santa Rosa, California, Joey offers baseball lessons to a wide range of students from the North Bay Area, including Healdsburg, Windsor, Santa Rosa, Rohnert Park, Sebastopol, Cotati, and all of Sonoma County. He extends his services to clients in Marin County, Napa County, Mendocino County, and beyond.
His students, benefiting from his expertise, have consistently shown remarkable improvement. Many have advanced in their school teams, and a significant number have gone on to sign contracts with Major League Baseball. Testimonials from clients underscore the effectiveness of Joey’s training methods and the positive impact he has had on their baseball careers.
Joey is also the General Manager and Head Coach of the Healdsburg Prune Packers, a dominant summer collegiate baseball team in Sonoma County. Under his leadership, the team has won three consecutive state championships in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
His coaching philosophy is encapsulated in his creation, PartyOutFront®, a unique approach to hitting that emphasizes making contact in front of the body to maximize impact.
Max Shupe
Instructor
Max Shupe, a skilled hitting instructor, has made a significant mark in collegiate baseball with his strategic coaching acumen. As an assistant coach at Saint Mary's College in Moraga, CA, Max significantly boosted the team's offensive capabilities, leading to a remarkable increase in runs and hits compared to previous seasons.
At SMC, Max's diverse responsibilities included coaching infielders, honing offensive strategies, spearheading recruitment efforts, and managing both prospect and youth camps. He also played a key role in travel coordination, fundraising activities, and leading the Development Team.
His earlier tenure at Sonoma State University, his alma mater, saw him excel as an infield, hitting, and third base coach. There, he not only contributed to offensive coaching and recruiting but also oversaw the baseball facility's operations and social media efforts. His time at Sonoma State was highlighted by earning All-CCAA honors and the Newcomer of the Year award in 2010 after a standout season.
Max's involvement in baseball extends beyond coaching at the collegiate level. He served on the California Collegiate League (CCL) board, contributing to the Marketing and All-Star Game committee, and took on a leadership role with the Healdsburg Prune Packers. Additionally, Max has been an active member of the USA Baseball community as part of the Northwest NTIS task force.
Holding degrees from various Bay Area institutions, Max's educational background is as varied as his professional experience. He earned an Associate in Arts from San Jose City College (2009), a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Sonoma State (2011), and an MBA in Global Leadership and Management from Holy Names University (2018). These qualifications further amplify his deep understanding of both the sport and its larger administrative landscape.
