Instructor Jim Paduch
Jim Paduch, a local from Chicago, graduated from Holy Cross High School in 2000. He went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in business management from Concordia University-Chicago in 2006 and currently is in his fourth year serving as an assistant coach on the baseball staff.
While playing at Concordia, Paduch served as a two-way player helping lead the Cougars in 2003 to the regular-season conference championship, while winning the Northern Illinois-Iowa Conference Player of the Year, and a spot as a 3rd team All-Region All-American.
In June of that year, he was drafted as a pitcher in the 12th round by the Cincinnati Reds. Jim was assigned to their Rookie League affiliate in Billings, Montana and went 7-1 with a 1.94 earned run average, pitching his team to the Pioneer League championship. He closed out the team’s season by throwing a no-hitter in the deciding game, and was later named the Cincinnati Reds Organizational Pitcher of the Year. He enjoyed four years in the Reds’ system, earning a brief call-up with their Triple-A team, the Louisville Bats.
After pitching for the Reds from 2003-2006, Paduch found his way to the Independent ranks in 2007. He has pitched for the Gary South Shore RailCats (2007), where he won a Northern League championship, Evansville Otters (2007) and the Rockford RiverHawks (2008) teams before being traded to the Lincoln Saltdogs in August of 2008. Jim pitched the entire 2009 season for Lincoln going 7-5 with 96 strikeouts in 120 innings. In September of this year, he helped the Saltdogs win their first American Association Championship. Including playoffs, he finished 10-5 with 115 strikeouts in 141 innings.
In addition to Oriole's Winter Clinic's Jim Paduch also offers private lessons during the week and weekends. Contact Jim at
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for more details.
During his seven years in professional baseball thus far, Paduch believes hard work, discipline, and knowing the fundamentals pays off to those that are willing to put in the time.
“Learning the fundamentals plays a key role in the development of young players. Once fundamentals are established, players begin to see results. Results build confidence, which ultimately leads to success. Things just don’t happen. You have to be prepared to go above and beyond what is expected to become the best player you can be.” ~Jim Paduch
