Michael Bricker

Director of Baseball, VP of Operations

Mike is former MLB scout with the Cubs and White Sox.
He’s a former college player and coach at University of South Carolina.
Mike pitched batting practice for the Major League Chicago White Sox.
Mike is a major force in the College Showcase, Fall Leagues and Scouting in the Greater Cincinnati Area.
Mike is the head coach of Champions Baseball Academy’s Collegiate Team and also has many connections to college baseball coaches and scouts throughout the USA. 

Rick “Buster” Keeton

Director of Pitching

Was the 60th player selected in the 1978 draft and started his professional baseball career in AA with the Milwaukee Brewers. Buster moved through the minor leagues quickly and made his major league debut on May 27th 1980. Buster played with Hall of Famers Robin Yount, Paul Molitor, and Rollie fingers. After his 10 year playing career Buster coached professionally for another 10 years; those teams included the Brewers, Astros, Royals, Twins, and Pirates. Along the way Buster coached many successful players including Carlos Beltran and Mike Sweeney.

Buster’s twenty years of professional baseball experience and his strong interest in youth baseball has allowed him to develop the reputation as one of the top pitching instructors in the tri-state area. Buster’s approach focuses on working on a good pace, throwing strikes by hitting location, and changing speeds. Buster will develop your young pitcher into recognizing the “pitcher must command the game.”

Buster grew up in Western Hills playing his youth ball with the Cincinnati Storm Club and currently resides in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Chris Welsh

Pitching Instructor

A.K.A. “The Crafty Lefthander”.    He is a Cincinnati native, and attended St. Xavier High School, where he proved to be a solid pitcher before making the team at the University of South Florida, where, by his junior year, was a regional all-American Pitcher.

School: University of South Florida

Drafted by the New York Yankees in the 21st round of the 1977 amateur draft.

Debut: April 12, 1981

Teams (by GP): Padres/Rangers/Reds/Expos 1981-1986

He is currently the Fox Sports announcer for the Cincinnati Reds and brings over 30 years of playing, coaching, and teaching experience.

George Foster 

Instructor

George was an integral member of the Big Red Machine, winning back to back World Series Championships in 1975 and 1976. He was also a five-time All-Star and one of the most feared right-handed sluggers of hie era. He won the National League’s Most Valuable Player in 1977 and a Silver Slugger Award in 1981. George is a gifted member of our coaching/instructor team.   

 

 

 

Ken Osterkamp

Pitching Instructor

Ken is a native of Cincinnati where he played at St. Xavier High School and the University of Cincinnati.  He signed with the Boston Red Sox organization and played professionally for five years, as high as AA and AAA.  He posted top 5 finishes in E.R.A. and saves with 2 championships during his career.  Ken has coached in the Cincinnati Elite Fall League for 11 years while coaching in the AABC for 7 years.  He has assisted players in gaining college exposure while having several of his players reaching the professional level.

Asif Shah

Baseball

Hitting and Pitching Instructor

Asif Shah is a former professional ballplayer that works with hitting and pitching. He went to Cincinnati Country Day where he won an Ohio State Championship in 2001 and was named Ohio State Player of the Year in 2003. After high school, Shah played collegiately at the University of Akron, Wabash Valley JC, and Southeast Missouri State University. At Southeast, he earned 1st Team All Conference Honors as well as being named on the Brooks Wallace Award Watch List for National Player of the Year in 2007. He was also the first player in conference history to win Pitcher of the Week and Hitter of the Week in the same season. Following his collegiate career, Asif went on to play professionally for 5 different teams. Over the course of his career, he won a league championship, was nominated to two all star teams, won a batting title, and participated in a home run derby. He finished his playing career with a .313 batting average, a .395 on base percentage, and a .435 slugging percentage. Asif has coached in the Elite Fall Baseball League the past 3 seasons and is currently an assistant coach with the Cincinnati Spikes organization. Having played in Canada and the US, Shah has developed connections with colleges in many different areas and takes pride in helping kids find the right school to continue their careers.

Rocky Curnayn

Baseball and Softball

Catching and Hitting Instructor

Rocky started his baseball career at Cincinnati’s Moeller High School, where he was named an All-City, All-GCL, and Moeller’s Defensive Player of the Year. He also played at Volunteer State Community College in Tennessee, which was ranked #1 in the nation, and was named All-Conference and All-Region.  Rocky played for the Florence Freedom in 2003 and began his career of catching and hitting instruction during that same year.  He was the hitting coach for Moeller High School’s 2004 and 2006 State Championship teams.  Rocky was a part of the 2006 USA/NE Stars and played in France for Champions, which won European Championship.  He is experienced in helping kids get recruited for college and takes pride by encouraging them to play to win.

Zade Richardson

Baseball

Hitting and Catching Instructor

Played at New Richmond HS and the #1 JR College in the US, Wabash Junior College. After being named Freshman of the Year,  Zade was drafted in 2019 in the 22nd round by the St. Louis Cardinals where he played for four years before signing with the Atlanta Braves in 2022. He has played alongside many baseball greats, including  Yadier Molina and Jose’ Aquendo. 

Hunter Losekamp

Baseball

Hitting, Fielding and Catcher

Instructor

Hunter Losekamp began his collegiate playing career as a catcher at the University of Cincinnati.  He then transferred to Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio where he helped lead the Tartans to a third place finish in the NJCAA World Series in 2016.

Losekamp played the final two years of his career at Huntington University, a NAIA program in northern Indiana. When his playing career concluded, he then served on Huntington’s staff for three seasons as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator.  During his time at Huntington, Losekamp was a part of three Crossroads League regular season championship teams.

A 2014 graduate of Milford High school, Hunter is also an alumni of the Cincinnati Baseball Club and Midland organizations.

Losekamp now serves as an assistant coach at Northern Kentucky University where he coaches catchers, base running, and also serves as the first base coach.

Mamee Salzer

Fastpitch Pitching Instructor

Mamee Salzer earned five varsity letters at St. Henry District High School. Her Sophomore, Junior and Senior year she was named NKY Enquirer/ Coaches Top 10 All Star and was also named to First Team All-Conference. As a Freshman and Senior Mamee was named NKAC Conference D-II Player of the Year. Her team was Region 9 All ‘A’ Champions her Freshman, Junior and Senior years. She went on to be a 4 year starter (pitcher/outfielder) at Thomas More University. Over the course of her career she was 4x first team All-PAC pick, as well as 2x second team NFCA AIl-Central Region pick. After a successful career she went into coaching both high school and travel ball with over 8 seasons of experience. 

Hannah Kendrick

Fastpitch hitting and fielding Instructor
Champions Baseball and Sortball Academy would like to welcome our newest softball instructor Hannah Kendrick to our Champions family!! Hannah is excited to bring her knowledge of the game to Champions! Hannah started playing fastpitch at age 9. She played for central Ohio string rays 10u- 14u and with Miami valley express 16u- 18u. Hannah attended Madison High School, where she played 4 years of varsity. 4x SWBL pitcher of the year. 3 year 1st team All State. Hannah attended Lee University in Cleveland TN on an athletic scholarship majoring in Nursing. Hannah continues to be involved in fastpitch, coaching at Monroe High School 21, 22 seasons. She will be offering lessons on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays.

 

 

 

Christopher Mutter, Jr

Pitching Instructor
Christoper is a former pitcher at Lake Erie College, where is holds the Season Save Record. He has played one year of Independent Baseball and is currently a Free Agent. He has taught pitching for several years and is a valuable asset to our pitching instruction staff.