Staff

Nick Alvarez

Head Baseball Coach

Nick Alvarez, is the Head Baseball Coach for the MSA War Eagles. Nick is the Director of Baseball Operations and Head of player development at The Leauge of Excellence. Aside from running the day to day operations at the LOX, Alvarez also runs the I AM Baseball program, the I AM UNITED travel teams, and the I AM NATIONALS USA development teams.

Alvarez played collegiate baseball at the University of Florida as well as St. Thomas University in Miami, Fl. where he earned All- American honors and was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers Organization. Alvarez played 7 years with Dodgers organization which included 2 Spring Training invites, Alvarez also played Winter ball in both Panama and Venezuela. After retiring from the game, Alvarez came back to his home town of Miami, FL. and coached at the powerhouse high-school program Christopher Columbus. In 2007, Alvarez co-founded the Nationally recognized I AM CrossFit Training Facility which branded out into 7 different locations throughout South Florida.

Since then Nick has worked with numerous baseball players ranging from youth to Major Leaguers helping them develope their game. In 2019, Alvarez partnered up with top level performance coach Nick Soto to open up the League of Excellence which is known today as The LOX.

Alvarez has run various baseball Camps as well as specialized team training programs for all levels. Today, Alvarez is known as a top Baseball developer with strong ties to USA baseball. Local players and teams tunderstand The LOX under his guidance and instruction year round.

Currently, I AM Baseball has become a Nationally recognized travel Organization with a reputation of putting players into the USA platform. Alvarez's younger brother, Eddy Alvarez who won a Silver medal in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia in in-line speed skating is currently playing with the Miami Marlins where he will once again be representing the USA in the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan where he will look to become the first American athlete in history to medal in both Winter and Summer Olympics.

The same expertise and passion for the game will guide the MSA War Eagles in their upcoming inaugural season. The goal is to create a baseball program strong enough to compete against well established collegiate programs as well as develop players and help them reach another level.

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Rey Pastrana

Assistant Baseball Coach

Rey Pastrana is the Assistant Baseball Coach for the MSA War Eagles. Rey Pastrana is the Catching and recruiting coordinator for the I AM baseball program. I AM baseball has produced some of the nations top catchers under Pastrana. During Pastrana’s time at the Lox, Pastrana worked as the Catching Coordinator for the prestigious Columbus High School Fall program. There Pastrana oversaw every catcher in the program ranging from the freshman team to the varsity team.

As a player, Pastrana attended Marshall University. At Marshall University, Pastrana led The Herd to their winningest season of all time as a Freshman. Pastrana went on and achieved many accomplishments in his time there. Those accomplishments included being a finalist for the Johnny Bench award which is given to the best NCAA D1 Catcher in the country. In addition to the Johnny Bench award, Pastrana was awarded with the Rawlings Gold Glove award, All Conference , All Region , and All American honors. He later went on to play with the Winnipeg Goldeyes of the American Association.

Pastrana graduated from Marshall with a Business degree, a minor in Marketing, and a minor in Entrepreneurship.

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Nick Soto

Director of Strength and Conditioning

Emailcoachsoto@msaathletics.org

Nick Soto, is the Strength and Conditioning Director for the MSA War Eagles. He played collegiate football at Tusculum College and was an Olympic hopeful in Tae Kwon Do. After multiple injuries kept him from continuing his sports endeavors, he pointed his focus towards helping other athletes achieve their goals. He received his Master of Science in Kinesiology from AT Still University, with a focus on Sports Performance Training.

Since then, Nick has worked with numerous athletes and teams in various sports. This includes Track and Field, Baseball, Football, Rowing, Boxing, Basketball, Soccer, Tennis, and Volleyball. Some of his notable athletes include Manny Machado, Akiem Hicks, Nolan Carroll, John Brown, Yonder Alonso, Denzel Perryman, Alvin Kamara, Mike James, Dom Easily, Eddy Alvarez, Darryl Sharpton, Joan Guzman, Gus Edward's, and Eddy Alvarez.

He has run various NFL Combine Prep Camps as well. Today, he is known as a top speed and power development specialist. Local teams train under his tutelage year-round, and individual athletes come from around the nation to train with him to develop their speed and explosive power. Currently, LOX Performance has become a world leader in developing exit velo, and throwing velocity in baseball with Nick's power program.

This same expertise will guide the Strength and Conditioning program at MSA. The goal is to create a Strength, Conditioning, and Performance program that surpasses all other collegiate programs in the nation.

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