OUR MISSION AS OBA STAFF
Provide an avenue for elite high school players to showcase their talents to college coaches and professional scouts. As coaches, we will work harder than any other staff to assure that you will get maximum exposure from these coaches and scouts. As a staff, our goal is to enable each player to get to the next level by arming you with the skills and knowledge that it takes to get into a college. It is NOT solely the coaches’ responsibility to get you there. There has to be a lot of work and effort on and off the field in order to make this a reality. OBA prides itself on having quality young men and STUDENT/athletes in our program. The college coaches are well aware of this and use our program knowing the young men that are in our program are quality in all aspects.
Jim Osting
is an outstanding coach w/ 12 years of professional baseball experience. He grew up in Louisville, KY playing baseball and working in his family’s bakery. At the age of 11-14, he played on the winning teams that won Kentucky State Little League title for four straight years, missing Williamsport Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA by one game. At the age of 15, Jim won the National Baseball Amateur Federation World Series and was the winning pitcher in that title game.
He attended Trinity High School in Louisville, KY where he was an all-state selection his Jr. and Sr. years. To this day, he still holds several records as an alumnus including a single-season ERA 0.09. He not only stood out on the baseball field as he was successful in the classroom earning a stellar GPA and balancing other extracurricular activities as well. After high school, he accepted a full scholarship to the baseball powerhouse of Clemson University, passing up scholarships to many other universities.
In the 1995 June MLB Players Amateur Draft, Jim was selected in the fourth round by the Atlanta Braves. He signed w/ the Atlanta Braves and spent 5 seasons in that organization. Though he endured Tommy John surgery in 1997, he made it into Baseball America’s Top 10 prospects in the Atlanta Braves Organization. Later earning the Brave’s Minor League Pitcher of the Year in 1999 and set a record for wins in class A baseball. Thus, with his performance in the 1999 season, it propelled Jim to MLB spring training status, where he closely worked w/ many of the great names in baseball including pitching coach Leo Mazzoni, pitchers Greg Maddux, John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, and manager Bobby Cox.
With a rapid rise from A to AAA, Jim was traded in midseason 2000 for pitcher Andy Ashby to the Philadelphia Phillies organization. After the 2001 Spring Training with the Phillies, he was traded to the San Diego Padres where he made his Major League debut in late April at the friendly confines of Wrigley Field. He signed as a free agent with the Milwaukee Brewers for the 2002 season.
In 2003, Jim signed a one year contract wi the Kansas City Royals where he sustained a shoulder injury which led to his retirement after surgery/physical rehab.
Throughout his playing years, he considers himself a student of the game. Many of his skills learned in baseball including those acquired in professional baseball are carried over in his teaching of young athletes today.
Jim has had 12 years of off-season experience teaching young people baseball. Since his retirement from professional baseball in 2005, he has gone to full-time instruction. He has a unique ability to teach on each student’s individual level. While teaching many facets of the game, he teaches people many of life’s skills and relates to his pupils individually. His acquired knowledge and wisdom gained with hard work, success, and dealing with some of the best names in the game, offer a unique opportunity for his students to reach their highest potential. Coach Osting, enjoys working with all talent levels, even spending time with various MLB teams during spring training and staying sharp on all the new techniques that are being used at the highest levels.
Patrick Ryan
grew up in Brooksville, FL and attended Central High School where he lettered in baseball for 3 years. From there he received a scholarship to play at Lake Sumter Community College in Leesburg, FL. After his 2 years there he signed to play at Embry Riddle University in Daytona Beach, FL. His junior season he was 1st team All American and helped his team to a 52-10 record and a 3rd place finish at the NAIA World Series. His senior season Patrick garnered 2nd team All American honors and again help post a 52-10 record. That season the Eagles earned 2nd place at the World Series.
After his senior season, Patrick was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 19th round of the 2005 Amateur Draft. Patrick played 4 seasons with the Brewers organization reaching AA Huntsville in 2008 and making the AA All-Star team. He was then selected in the Rule 5 Draft that offseason by the Seattle Mariners where he played the 2009 season for AA Jackson, TN. Also that season Patrick played for the Bridgeport, CT Bluefish of the Atlantic League. In the 2010 season, Patrick started back in Bridgeport but was signed by the Boston Red Sox in a midseason acquisition. He retired after the 2011 season where he became a full-time instructor at OBA. During his playing days, he spent his off-seasons giving lessons at Ostingers and has become an important part of the OBA staff at college showcases, summer camps, and giving individual lessons. He feels it is important to give back his knowledge and enjoys staying close to the game he loves.
Patrick resides in Lakeland, FL with his wife Christy and daughter Delaney.
Kris Wilken
Coach Wilken attended Eldorado High School in Albuquerque, New Mexico where he still holds the career record for RBI’s and ERA. He was the Gatorade New Mexico player of the year in 1997 after leading his team to the state championship. Following his sophomore year in high school, he was the starting shortstop for the 16-year-old national team which won the Bronze medal at the World Championships in Londrina, Brazil. He was a 6th round draft pick by the Boston Red Sox in the 1997 free agent draft, but chose to attend the University of Houston on a baseball scholarship. He was the starting 3rd baseman at the University of Houston and led the team in home runs his junior year for the Cougars who fell one game short of the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.
Kris was selected in the 12th round by the Baltimore Orioles in the 2000 free agent draft and spent 6 seasons in the Orioles organization spending his final season at the Triple-A level in 2005. In the fall of 2003, Kris was the starting 1st baseman for the Mesa Solar Sox of the Arizona Fall League who went on to win the 2003 Fall League Championship. Kris retired from playing following the 2005 season.
After helping at both Riverview and Brandon high school in the months leading up to spring training from 2003 to 2005, Kris knew he wanted to pass on his knowledge of the game to kids aspiring to improve their game. Since 2007, Kris has been the head baseball coach at Bloomingdale High School. As a head coach, he has a .702 winning percentage and has had numerous players go on to compete at the collegiate level. He was named Western Conference coach of the year and nominated for state 8A coach of the year following this past season after the Bulls posted a record of 22-4.
Kris has been giving private lessons since he was in high school and because he played every position except for centerfield at the professional level, he has had the opportunity to learn from professional instructors at every position on the field.
Mike Heath
Coach Mike had a stellar 15 year Major League career. While playing he player every position on the field except pitcher, but catching was where he spent most of his time. Coach Heath played for Athletics, Yankees, Braves, Cardinals, Tigers, Rangers. Coach Mike is awesome in working with catchers in all areas of the position! He is an asset to the academy and working with the catchers.