JOE PERONA

Joe Perona founded the first Chicago Warriors team in 2010 and Chicago Baseball Club in 2015 to develop confident, fundamentally strong youth baseball players. Joe is a youth coaching veteran of near 20 years and a life-long baseball player with an impressive amateur and professional career. Through the Chicago Warriors - Chicago Baseball Club, Joe and his staff of coaches deliver his unique "always compete" coaching philosophy in a supportive teaching environment.

Joe has on field coaching experience at all youth levels as well as high school, college and off season training with professional players. Joe's founding Warriors team captured the Mid Suburban Baseball League 14u Championship in 2015 as the first Chicago city based winner in the league's history. Joe also head coached the Warriors to the 14u Illinois Junior League State Championships in 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018. The 2018 14u Warriors represented Illinois and advanced to the Junior League World Series finishing in 3rd place of United States teams. Joe has also served as a varsity assistant coach with Loyola Academy and run Lane Tech's Fall Baseball Program. Joe's two son's, Louis and Joseph grew up in the Warriors Baseball program and graduated from Lane Tech and are now college baseball players at Illinois Wesleyan and North Park University.

For more info on Coach Perona's background and coaching purpose, click here

NOE ARTEAGA

Noe is a former Division 1 pitcher at Chicago State University who spent a year in professional baseball pitching for the Southern Illinois Miners. He has multiple years of head coaching experience with the Chicago Warriors as an instructor and head coach at both the youth and high school levels. Coach Arteaga has two years with Depaul Prep as the Varsity Pitching coach. He has the unique ability to coach an 11 year old team as well as a 17u team as he brings patience and experience to Warriors players.

Noe grew up on the northside of Chicago and graduated high school at Gordon Tech High School, was recruited to Danville CC and then on baseball scholarship at Chicago State University.



 TIM FEELEY

Coach Tim Feeley has served as head coach for the Warriors program for multiple years at the high school age levels and also has multiple years of head baseball coach at Notre Dame High School at the Freshman and JV levels.

Tim is a math teacher at Notre Dame High School in Niles and has a teacher's perspective along with a former player's approach to teaching the game of baseball to young players.

Tim was a pitcher/1B at Lane Tech, class of 2011 and pitched collegiately at Benedictine University for 4 years. He is a high school math teacher and football and baseball coach at Notre Dame High School in Niles.


KATIE GALLEGOS

Katie Gallegos has three years of coaching experience with the Warriors Program both as a head coach and assistant coach. She head coached our 11u and 12u Warriors the past two years and led her 12u Warriors team to 4 wins at Dreams Park in Cooperstown Tournament in 2023. Katie is the first female to both play as a youngster and later Head Coach a team at Dreams Park in Cooperstown, NY.

Coach Katie is a former Chicago Warriors player having played on two Junior League Baseball State Champion Teams. As a 14u Chicago Warriors player she was awarded the Eric Wedge Spirit Award at the Midwest Junior Regional in Fort Wayne Indiana.

Katie graduated from Lane Tech in 2019 where she switched to softball and played 4 years as a varsity softball player. She was named all conference and all city four straight years and Team Captain in her junior and senior years. She is a recent graduate of University Kentucky and is currently studying for the LSATs with a goal of attending Law School.

JOE MACK

Joe Mack has coached youth baseball for over 20 years, and helped build the Warriors program from the first days. Joe is a fitness training and motivation professional. He has coached at every level from 9u to 18u with the Warriors and also served as head varsity head coach at Northtown Academy High School in Chicago for multiple seasons. Joe's son Jojo grew up with the Warriors Baseball program and is currently a senior outfielder at Roosevelt University.

Joe serves as Warriors Strength coach and created the Warriors Strength and Agility program to develop players into well-rounded athletes. “Young athletes, at a certain point, all need the same things. It starts with core strength; they have to have balance and agility and you want to have a lot of fast twitch muscle fiber,” he said. “What we’re doing is not only building baseball players, we’re building athletes.

ROBERT MARTINEZ

Robert Martinez knows youth baseball talent and has a passion for baseball and coaching. Robert has almost 20 years of youth baseball and high school age coaching experience

Robert has head coached championship teams for the Warriors in the MSBL 13u and 14u age levels as well as Junior League state championships. Coach Martinez has also assisted the varsity baseball team at Walt Disney 2 High School.

Roberts son, Brandon progressed through all levels of the Warriors baseball program and graduated Lakeview high school in 2019 as one of the best pitchers on the Chicago City Championship team that played at Wrigley Field. Brandon went on to pitch in college for Truman College and Morton College.

TOM MCGUIRE

Since joining Chicago Baseball Club in 2015, Tom has been on a mission of immersing himself in the knowledge of the skills of baseball and coaching. Tom attends multiple coaching clinics annually and is always carrying a new baseball instruction or coaching philosophy book. He is an avid fan and student of Japanese baseball and coaching culture.

Tom served as head sophomore coach at Lane Tech in 2017 and has coached with the Chicago Warriors at nearly every level from youth to high school and logged four years coaching at the Varsity level for Von Steuben high school.

His coaching Championships include an MSBL 11u Chicago Warriors title and a Sophomore City Championship as the Head Sophomore coach at Lane Tech College Prep.

Tom is from Lincoln, Michigan, where he was a three-sport athlete at Alcona Community High School. He graduated from Alma College in 2008, where he played baseball as a utility infielder for three years.  Tom is currently living in Japan in a teaching and coaching exchange program in Kobe, Japan.

Neil Piacenti has over 15 years of youth coaching experience along with winter training instruction experience with the Warriors program. Coach Piacenti has coach all levels and has unique skills able to work with youth, high school and college players. Neil's 2022 Warriors 16u team had one of the best summers in recent memory finishing a 7 week summer season with 30 wins. He is an excellent developer of talent who has most recently rewritten the Warriors throwing and velocity program.

Neil has a history of success as a former player. He holds several high school hitting records at St. Bede Academy in Peru, IL, including an eye-popping .603 batting average in 1994 his junior year in high school, which still stands as the season record. Neil was a scholarship baseball player at Northwestern University (’97), was signed as a free agent by the Chicago White Sox, and attended the White Sox minor league Spring Training in 1998 and then released in his first pro season by the White Sox. Neil later spent two seasons playing independent professional baseball in the Northern League for the Madison Black Wolf.

Neil is an insurance executive and has years of volunteer hours as a former Board member of Warren Park Youth Baseball. He lives in Evanston, Illinois with his wife Bridgette and their two children.

HENRY SZUMAL

Coach Szumal has multiple years with the Chicago Warriors.as a head coach. He is a talented pitching instructor who led the design our winter training throwing program.

Henry is an experienced coach at the high school level as well as summer travel baseball. He has head coached multiple years at the JV level and now has multiple years at Lane Tech on the Varsity staff as the varsity pitching coach.

After a pitching injury and a recovery from Tommy John surgery, Coach Szumal dug into throwing and pitching research to advance his coaching knowledge. That injury experience has helped fuel his coaching passion to seek the best training development methods for young pitchers.

Henry played shortstop and pitcher for Lane Tech as a high school player graduating in 2009. He finished up his playing career at Oakton Community College. He continues to play as an amateur baseball in Chicago adult leagues.


JAIME "JIMMY" VELEZ

Jimmy Velez brings a lifetime of baseball experience as an amateur player, youth coach and umpire. Jimmy has nearly ten years of high school coaching and over 20 years of youth baseball coaching experience, including past positions as head sophomore coach at both Von Steuben and Lane Tech high schools in Chicago. Jimmy rarely lets a day pass without indulging in baseball, be it through coaching, umpiring, or spectating.

Jimmy has coached at nearly every level for the Chicago Warriors. He often coaches multiple teams for the Warriors and is a steward of the game of baseball.

Jimmy's baseball passion is coaching infielders during the Warriors winter training program and leading his teams.

Tom McGuire 

Tom McGuire is entering his first season as the head sophomore baseball coach at Lane Tech High School in Chicago after serving as an assistant on the freshman Lane Tech squad in 2016. Tom coached both the 14u Gold and 11u Chicago Warriors teams in 2016 and led both teams to successful seasons, highlighted by the 11u team winning the Mid-Suburban Baseball League (MSBL) American Division tournament championship. Coach Tom McGuire will continue to coach and instruct our Chicago Warriors players as head coach for the 15u Chicago Warriors Green team in the summer of 2017.
Tom is from Lincoln, Michigan, where he was a three-sport athlete at Alcona Community High School. He graduated from Alma College in 2008, where he played baseball as a utility infielder for three years. Professionally, Tom works at CME Group in downtown Chicago where he manages a client services team. In his free time, Coach Tom enjoys traveling and attending baseball games. Tom is drawn to coaching by his love for the game and the opportunity to relate life lessons to his players through baseball. 

Tom McGuire 

Tom McGuire is entering his first season as the head sophomore baseball coach at Lane Tech High School in Chicago after serving as an assistant on the freshman Lane Tech squad in 2016. Tom coached both the 14u Gold and 11u Chicago Warriors teams in 2016 and led both teams to successful seasons, highlighted by the 11u team winning the Mid-Suburban Baseball League (MSBL) American Division tournament championship. Coach Tom McGuire will continue to coach and instruct our Chicago Warriors players as head coach for the 15u Chicago Warriors Green team in the summer of 2017.
Tom is from Lincoln, Michigan, where he was a three-sport athlete at Alcona Community High School. He graduated from Alma College in 2008, where he played baseball as a utility infielder for three years. Professionally, Tom works at CME Group in downtown Chicago where he manages a client services team. In his free time, Coach Tom enjoys traveling and attending baseball games. Tom is drawn to coaching by his love for the game and the opportunity to relate life lessons to his players through baseball.