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Chris Sinacori is in his third year with the Arizona State baseball program and will again serve as pitching coach for the 2004 Sun Devils.
Sinacori returned to the ASU baseball family in 2003 after serving as a pitching coach in the Chicago White Sox minor league system for four years. Sinacori was also in charge of the rehabilitation programs throughout the organization for all pitchers. His previous time on the ASU coaching staff during the 1998 season when he mentored the pitchers during the College World Series runner-up season..
In his first year back with the program, the 2003 Sun Devil pitching staff became a benchmark for success on the mound. Helping guide the Devils to a 54-14 record, the pitching staff led the Pac-10 with a 3.32 ERA and ranked eighth in the NCAA. The 3.32 team ERA marked the first time since 1990 that an ASU pitching staff finished a season with an ERA lower than 4.00 and is the best dating back to 1979 when ASU joined the Pac-10. Since the NCAA adopted the designated hitter and aluminum bats in 1974, the 3.32 ERA is the third lowest. The Devils also led the Pac-10 with 530 strikeouts, adding to the 1998 strikeout crown Sinacori helped bring to Tempe.
In addition, the 2003 pitching staff combined for 10 shutouts to mark the most by a Sun Devil squad since recording 11 in 1976. Six pitchers from Sinacori's 2003 staff were selected in the 2003 MLB Amateur Draft and two more signed free agent contracts. Beau Vaughan, a true project that Sinacori helped develop in his only year as a Sun Devil, was selected in the 3rd round by the Boston Red Sox.
In 1998 under Sinacori's guidance, the ASU pitching staff posted a 41-23 record and came within one game of recording ASU's sixth national championship. Ten future professional pitchers highlighted Sinacori's first college pitching corps, including first-round draft picks Ryan Mills and Jay Gehrke.
In the four years in the White Sox organization, Sinacori mentored six current big league pitchers (Danny Wright, Jon Rauch, Matt Ginter, Rocky Biddle, David Sanders and Josh Stewart) and six first-round draft picks (Jason Stumm, Ginter, Brian West, Rob Purvis, Kris Honel and Royce Ring). His 2001 (3.35 ERA) and 2002 (3.62) pitching staffs both finished second in the Arizona League.
Prior to his coaching work with the Sun Devils in 1998, Sinacori spent seven years as a professional player with four different organizations (Los Angeles, Toronto, Florida and Arizona). He was the 15th selection of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1991 MLB Amateur Draft. Sinacori played two years for the University of Tennessee and one year for Florida International.
Sinacori was a two-time USA Today All-American at MacArthur High School in Levittown, N.Y., and earned the New York Diamond Award as the top prep player in the state of New York. He was also a member of the 1988 USA Baseball Junior Olympic team that won the gold medal in Australia. Sinacori graduated with a degree in liberal arts and sciences (psychology) from the University of Tennessee.
Sinacori and his wife Coren reside in Chandler.
