Meet The Coaches

Coach Darren Nelson

Darren M. Nelson

(Owner / Coach)

Darren@sluggersoc.com

714-287-6286

Darren M. Nelson graduated Orange High School in 1983 where he was selected as an All Century League player and First Team All County player in his Senior year.

Darren spent two years at Fullerton College where he was First Team All Conference and in 1985 Team MVP. Darren then attended Chapman University where he was selected as a First Team All American. In 1987, he was also named Conference Player of the Year after hitting for the California Collegiate Conference Triple Crown – .388 Avg, 21 HR and 77 RBI’s in 54 games.

Darren was an 11th round draft selection by the St. Louis Cardinals in 1987. After having spent two years with the Cardinals and two years with the Angels, Darren started Sluggers in 1997 located in Huntington Beach.

After 18 years and over 35,000 lessons under his belt, Sluggers is still going strong.

Coach Nick Cappuccilli

Nick Cappuccilli

Coach

Nick@sluggersoc.com

714-425-9153

Coach Nick Cappuccilli has been coaching team and private instruction since 2011, before spending 2012 at Costa Mesa High School in the spring and coaching/playing professionally in Europe that summer. In 2013, Nick coached at Newport Harbor High School as the varsity pitching coach. He is a product of the Sunset League having prepped at Edison High School. Born and raised in Huntington Beach, he was selected as team captain in 2003, 2004, and 2006 for the Chargers. Nick played collegiately at the University of Northern Colorado, Golden West College, and Dakota Wesleyan University and was again chosen team captain in 2009 at Golden West, and 2011 at Dakota Wesleyan. He played in multiple collegiate leagues including the Rocky Mountain collegiate (Colorado), Western Major Baseball (Canada), Carolina-Virginia collegiate (North Carolina), and the New York collegiate (New York). He studied Spanish and Psychology en route to a Bachelor’s Degree and received his Master’s Degree in 2012. In 2012, Coach Cappuccilli traveled to Europe to compete in the European Professional baseball league, as well as coach youth players and coaches to introduce and expand baseball in various European countries. In 2014, he traveled to Vladivostok, Russia and Santiago, Dominican Republic where he conducted clinics for local coaches and players. In 2015 he travelled to Shanghai, China to work with Major League Baseball in their player development department in order to promote Chinese, Taiwanese, and Korean baseball players to the Major Leagues. Upon completion in China, he returned to Russia as part of a baseball development and expansion project, where he conducted clinics and demonstrations for over 250 youth athletes and coaches.