Personnel

  • Todd Fine - Founder/CEO

    Top Tier Baseball was founded in 2004 in Suburban Chicago as one high-end 18U team by CEO, Todd Fine and has steadily grown to over 70 teams in 2017. Fine's decorated career in amateur baseball includes being named Amateur Coach of the Year in 2014 by Baseball America, coaching at the USA Baseball Tournament of Stars, the 18U National Team Trials and pitching coach for the 12U National Team in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. In 2018 and 2019 Todd was named Manager of the USA Baseball 12U National Team, where they took home the gold medal at the COPABE PanAm Championships. Additionally, Fine also served as an area scout with the Houston Astros for three years and was named All-America Game coach for 8 years at Wrigley Field. Over the past 19 years Top Tier has placed 700+ players in college programs, produced 75 MLB draft picks, 11 Major Leaguers, Gatorade Players of the Year, multiple All-Americans as well as USA Baseball National Team players at multiple age levels.


    Seth Kenny- Director of Teams

    Kenny is currently in his 12th year with Top Tier Baseball where he is the director of teams and started his 20-year coaching career as a pitching coach for the Danville Dans, Austin Peay State University, and Illinois State University from 2000-2008. Following his time at Illinois State, he returned to his role as pitching coach at Austin Peay, while also serving as the program as recruiting coordinator until joining Top Tier Baseball in 2010.

    Coach Kenny will also be serving as the USA baseball 12U national team pitching coach for the second year in a row. He oversaw a Team USA pitching staff last year that held opponents to a .162 batting average against and struck out 33 batters in 21.0 innings pitched. In addition to his first stint as a national team coach in 2021, Kenny has coached at the 12U National Open, was a member of the 11U NTIS task force in 2017 and 2019, and was a 12U National Team Trials coach in 2018 and 2019.

    As well as above responsibilities, Kenny gives private pitching, hitting and infield instruction.

    Matt Plante - Vice President

    Matt comes to Top Tier after serving as a recruiting coordinator and hitting coach at Oakland University for two seasons, 2011-2012. In 2012, Plante helped lead the Golden Grizzlies to the best conference record in school history at 15-6, ranking them second in the Summit League. He helped guide the offensive unit at Oakland to the top half of all the offensive categories in the Summit League. The 2012 season was the best finish in school history and helped Oakland's head coach win Coach of the Year in the Summit League, which was the 1st time a coach from Oakland had one that award.

    Prior to Oakland, Plante served as a volunteer assistant and graduate manager at Kansas State University. With the Wildcats, he served as the head of video operations and also assisted with infield and hitting instruction. In that 2010 season, Kansas State finished 37-22, they ended up third in the Big XII, earned a trip to the NCAA Regionals at University of Arkansas and were ranked in the Top 25 by the end of the season.

    Prior to Kansas State, Plante was at the Division III level as an assistant at Springfield College in Massachusetts, where he gained his Masters in Athletic Administration. In addition to his collegiate work, he has coached two years as an assistant at Lake Forest High School. He served as the Head Coach and assistant coach for the 17U and 18U teams from 2004-2010 at Top Tier, along with coaching many youth teams to multiple championships. His most notable accomplishment during those years was winning back to back CABA National Championships with the 17U teams in 2009 and 2010.

    He currently, now serves as the Vice President of Operations, and coaches our 16U Americans along with mentoring all the players in the Top Tier program.


    Dylan Rajkovich- Director of Player Development


    Dylan Rajkovich has spent the last 4 years (2018-2021) as the Head Assistant and Hitting Coach for the Transylvania University Pioneers (DIII) in Lexington, KY. During his time there, hehelped develop one of the more dynamic offense's in the country, help set the program record for wins in a season (32-12 in 2021). I'm 2021, Rajkovich helped guide the Pio's to the 1stregular and postseason Conference Championships in program history as well as winning their1st ever game in an NCAA Regional. Offensively, while keeping the same core of players over 4years with a mix of newcomers in the lineup each year, the team went from hitting .253 in 2018to .341 in 2021 while finishing 4th Nationally for Hits at the end of the regular season. Rajkovich also helped coach 12 All-Conference players as well as adding numerous names to the record books including; Newcomer of the Year (Trent Youngblood), Pitcher of Year (Jake Schmidt),and 2 of the Top 5 career leaders in program history for hits (Hudson Chastain and RileyWillbur) and 3 of the Top 5 for Single Season Hits (Youngblood, Chastain, Willbur).Rajkovich also spent a season as Lead Bench Coach for the Lexington Legends (Atlantic League) during the Battle of the Bourbon Trail in 2019.Prior to Transylvania, Rajkovich was an assistant coach at Webster (DIII) in 2016-17. Rajkovich specialized in recruiting and player development, working with catchers, outfield, and workingwith the offense. Rajkovich also helped guide the Gorloks to another regular season championship as well as another NCAA Regional Appearance. Rajkovich also helped coach draft pick, Josh Fleming (5th round, TB Rays).Rajkovich was part of memorable Webster teams which advanced to two NCAA Regionals andone NCAA Division III College World Series appearance during his time there. His individual accolades include a SCIAC All-Conference First Team and All-Conference Academic First Team selections, as well as a notable three-run homer in the 2015 NCAA Regional which vaulted Webster into the College World Series while adding another homer in the World Series. Rajkovich is a native of Orland Park, Illinois, where he attended Carl Sandburg High School.

    Rajkovich will be in charge of catching instruction, head coach at the youth and high school level. He is also available for individual hitting and catching instruction.


    Malcolm Grady- Pitching Instructor/Head Coach


    Grady was a stand out pitcher at Homewood Flossmoor High School, which there, garnered attention from major league scouts and was drafted in the 37th round by the Phillies his senior year. Following his high school career, Grady went on to play at Wabash Valley Junior College, and Western Kentucky University. Following his collegiate career, Grady played 3 years of professional baseball.

    Coach Grady is currently head pitching instructor at Top Tier, and head coach at the 12U level. He also serves as lead camp coordinator in charge of pitching. Grady is available for individual and small group pitching instruction.


  • Tim Barry

    Attended Oak Forest HS 2007-2011 where he set, and still holds, the IHSA records for most HR (53) and RBI (203) for a career. After playing 4 years with the Top Tier 17U Americans he went on to play at Daytona CC in 2011 before transferring to Wabash Valley for the 2012-2014 seasons where he was a 1st team All-American. He has been coaching with Top Tier since 2015 and works with hitters and first basemen.

    LUIs gil


    Coach Gil grew up in Dominican Republic. At the age of 16, Luis joined the Dodgers organization as part of the Rookie team in the developmental league in San Pedro, Dominican Republic. In 2006 Luis moved to the United States and singed with Olive Harvey College on a full Baseball scholarship. In 2007 he signed with Trinity Christian College on a full baseball scholarship where he graduated with honors with a teaching degree. During his collegiate days he play for the Chicago zephyrs in the CSBL and MWCL where he was an all-Star middle infielder for 3 consecutive years with an All-Star Game MVP award in 2009. He coached the Chicago Zephyrs in the Midwest Collegiate league in 2010. In 2011, Luis signed with the Solingen Aligator of the Bundesliga in Germany. During and after his collegiate and professional career, Coach Gil have been involved in numerous organizations such as White Sox training academy and RBI as a hitting and infielders instructor. His worldwide baseball experience and commitment to excellence in baseball fundamentals drove him to join Top Tier in 2015 as a 13u assistant, 15U Americans Head Coach, 15U Czerwinski, and very respectable wining records in all three years with the organization. Coach Gil will again be back leading a summer team for Top Tier as well as working with infielders and hitters throughout the winter.

    Anthony Ray


    Anthony Ray attended St. Rita High School in Chicago, IL and played for Top Tier from 2011-2013. In 2013, Anthony was selected in the 36th round by the St. Louis Cardinals. Anthony played four years for the St. Louis Cardinals in their farm system and spent last summer playing for the Road Warriors in the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. Anthony works with hitters and outfielders throughout the membership program and Top Tier practices on Sundays.

    Connor Riley


    Connor played for Top Tier in 2012 and 2013 and graduated from Marmion. He went on to play two years at Black Hawk College in Moline IL. Received a scholarship in 2015 to the University of South Carolina Aiken. In the Summer of 2016, he played for the Wilmington Sharks a member of the Coastal Plains summer league, where he went 6-3 with a 2.03 ERA while striking out 100 batters in 66 2/3 innings becoming second all-time in Coastal Plains League history in strikeouts for a single season. Was also named pitcher of the year that summer. In his 2017 season at the University of South Carolina Aiken, Riley went 6-2 on the year pitching 83 innings, striking out 130 batters while holding opponents to a .190 batting average. In the summer of 2017, Connor was drafted in the eighth round by the Los Angeles Angels.

    Jason Scholl


    Attended Glenbrook North high school and was a 2 time all conference baseball and football player, as well as all area selection baseball player. He was part of the 2011 elite 8 team who was ranked 4 in the state. The left handed hitting catcher went to eastern Illinois on a baseball scholarship playing all 4 years and also played in the Northwoods league in 2015 with the Kenosha Kingfish where he was selected to the all star team as well as being selected on the major league dream showcase team. He won the Northwoods league championship with the Kingfish that summer as well. He graduated in 2016 from EIU and then signed professional contract with the Gateway Grizzlies in the frontier league for the summer of 2016.


  • Pete Lotus

    Pete Lotus enters his ninth season as the St. Laurence head coach with an impressive record of 218-71. In his first 8 seasons, Lotus and his staff have turned St. Laurence into one of the state's elite programs, consistently being ranked in the top ten in the state of Illinois. The Vikings have captured six Chicago Catholic League Championships and 6 IHSA Regional Championships in Lotus' eight seasons. Lotus has sent 44 players on to college programs, including 12 at the Division I level. Lotus' teams have averaged 29 wins a year and have produced 38 1st or 2nd team All-Area and 9 All-State players in just 8 years. Last year's team won 27 games and captured the prestigious Chicago Catholic League's Blue Division and the school's 10th IHSA Regional title. Last year's squad produced two All-State players, and junior Mike Kornacker was selected as the "Player of the Year" in the state of Illinois. In Coach Lotus' first season, the Vikings won their first League and Regional championships in 13 years. For his efforts, Lotus was awarded the Anthony Lawless award for most outstanding coach in the Chicago Catholic League. Lotus was also heralded as the Daily Reporter's "High School Coach of the Year." Lotus won his 2nd Lawless award in 2008 after the Vikings went a combined 13-1 in Catholic League play. Lotus garnered back to back Lawless awards by again being named "Coach of the Year" in 2009. In guiding the 2011 Vikings to the Blue Division Championship, Lotus won his unprecedented 4th Anthony Lawless "Coach of the Year" award. A 1994 graduate of St. Laurence, Lotus went on to the University of Illinois-Chicago where he was a 4 year starter and 1st-Team All-Conference performer. Coach Lotus came back to St. Laurence in 2003 and serves as the Division Dean of the Science and Physical Education departments teaching Anatomy and Biology classes and serving as the Intramural Director. In 2008, Lotus was recognized as the Blessed Edmund Rice "Distinguished Teacher of the Year." Lotus was inducted into the St. Laurence Athletic Hall of Fame in November 2007.

    Adam Lotus

    Adam Lotus, Varsity Pitching Coach, enters his 9th season at St. Laurence. Adam graduated from St. Laurence in 2001 and went on to play 4 years at Dominican University. He has produced numerous collegiate pitchers, many of whom go on to the Division I level. Coach Lotus' pitching staff was one of the best in the state last year, producing eye-popping numbers while playing one of the toughest schedules in the state. In addition to coaching baseball, he is currently the Director of Alumni and Assistant Recruiter.

    Kyle Wood

    Kyle presently serves as the hitting coordinator for the Top Tier Black program. He was also a coach for the Illinois Team in the PBR Futures games in Indianapolis. Kyle also serves as the hitting coordinator for St. Laurence High School. He comes from Orland Park, IL, and is in his 3rd year as a varsity assistant coach. Kyle played for Coach Pete and Adam from 2008-2011 winning multiple conference and regional titles before going on to play at Purdue University. At Purdue, Kyle was a 1st Team All-Big Ten selection and was apart of a Big Ten Championship. He is also in his second year teaching Physics at the school. Kyle also works with the Top Tier Vikings. He works with all age groups, rotating between the different teams during their hitting days. Kyle was set to be the director of baseball operations/assistant coach at Ball State University until he came home to play for the independent minor league team the Windy City Thunderbolts and coach at St. Laurence High School.

    Brian Wichert

    Coach Brian will run the 12U Top Tier Black team. He has previously coached 11U and 13U as well, being a part of the staff for five years. Brian also serves as a defensive coordinator for the Top Tier Black program. Coach Wichert enters his 11th season as part of the St. Laurence High School baseball coaching staff, serving as freshman head coach. As a catcher, Brian was an all conference player at Reavis High School and went on to play four years at Benedictine University. Coach Wichert is in his third year as Director of Technology at St. Laurence, as well as our Computer Science and Engineering teacher. Prior to teaching at STL, he taught at Simmons Middle School, in Oak Lawn for eight years. He is also our head sophomore basketball coach.

    Kyle Estand

    Coach Estand coached the 13U Top Tier Vikings last year and will be coaching the 13U Top Tier Vikings Black team this year. Coach Kyle Estand graduated from St. Laurence High School in 2013 playing baseball all 4 years and continued his baseball/academic career at St. Joseph's College, graduating in 2017 with a degree in Criminal Justice and earning 4 straight years of All-Academic GLVC honors.

    Kevin Dineen

    Kevin Dineen enters his 2nd year of coaching for Top Tier Black. Last year Kevin was the head coach for the Top Tier 12U Gold team and will coach the 13U Gold team this year. Kevin is a 2010 graduate of St. Laurence high school and will be the Head Sophomore Baseball Coach in his 2nd year as well as a teacher in the departments of Theology and Criminal Justice. While at St. Laurence Kevin was a member of the baseball, basketball and football team for all four years at the school. Before returning to St. Laurence Kevin went on to continue his academic and baseball career at Carroll University in Waukesha, Wisconsin where he went on to earn All Conference in the Midwest Conference as a pitcher his Junior season and earned his Bachelor's Degree in Criminal Justice. Kevin also spent time coaching at the high school level in Wisconsin at West Allis - Nathan Hale and at Palmyra-Eagle high school where he was the head Freshman coach as well as the Varsity pitching coach.

    Nik Siple

    Coach Nik Siple is the 14U Top Tier Black coach. Nik has been coaching with the Top Tier Vikings since 2015 and has coached at the 9U, 10U, 12U, 13U and 14U levels. He enters his 1st season at St. Laurence as an assistant coach at the varsity level. Nik is a 2015 graduate of St. Laurence High School and continued his education at the University of St. Francis where he worked as a student assistant coach of the baseball team. While at St. Laurence, Nik was a member of the baseball program as a pitcher and a first baseman. Nik has coached at St. Laurence during the summer season for the past four years, working on both the varsity and sophomore levels. He is currently working in the athletic department at St. Laurence and plans to begin teaching at St. Laurence in the near future. Coach Siple has also worked as an umpire for over four years and has experience at the high school and youth levels.

  • brian duffy

    Brian Duffy played baseball at Archbishop Molloy HS in Queens, NY where he was named First Team All-City during his senior season. After graduation, he went on to pitch at the Division I collegiate level for the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) from 2004-2008. While at UMBC, Duffy interned for the The Baseball Factory, and a minor league affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles, the Bowie Baysox. After college, Brian coached at the United States Naval Academy, assisting in on campus recruiting, on-field coaching, and working camps across the country to promote Navy baseball. He then went on to become the Prep Baseball Report Illinois State Director in 2010 and the High School Director for Top Tier Baseball from 2011-2014. At Top Tier, he connected with college coaches across the Midwest and built relationships with other travel and high school programs, helping over 100 student-athletes across the country play at the collegiate level. Brian understands the concept of a "student-athlete" better than most. He holds an MBA with a concentration in Sports Management from the Loyola University Chicago Quinlan School of Business and a Juris Doctorate from the John Marshall Law School. He currently serves as a director for the Top Tier North program.

  • Lou Simios - Top Tier South Director

  • Kris Jenkins

    Kris Jenkins attended West Aurora High School where he was a three sport athlete in baseball, basketball, and football, earning All-Conference and All-Area honors in each sport. After his senior year, Kris was awarded Athlete of the Year for his contributions to West Aurora High School. After finishing high school, he continued his playing career at Triton College before transferring to Illinois State where he earned All-Conference honors as a senior. Kris also played collegiate summer ball in the Texas Collegiate Summer League helping lead his team to a TCL championship. As a coach, Kris Jenkins has over 13 years of experience with multiple travel travel programs as well as coaching at the sophomore and varsity levels with Plainfield South High School. Most recently, coach Jenkins led Team Illinois to a Prep Baseball Report Junior Futures Game Championship.

    Mitch Elliott

    Mitch Elliott attended Pine Richland High School in Pittsburgh, PA where he starred as a two sport athlete in football and baseball. He earned All-Conference in the WPIAL, All-State in Pennsylvania and Under Armour All-American in 2008. After high school, Mitch continued his playing career at Xavier University. As a Musketeer, Mitch earned the Big East tournament's Most Outstanding Player as a well as All-Tournament Team. Off the field, Mitch also was recognized with a Big East All-Academic Team award. Mitch has four years of professional experience playing in Puerto Rico and independent leagues. He specializes in teaching outfield and hitting.

    CARTER TURNQUIST

    In high school, Carter Turnquist was a two sport athlete excelling at baseball and football for the Oswego High School Panthers. Carter was named team MVP and earned All-Conference honors. Carter then continued his playing career at Aurora University as their number three starter with multiple appearances out of the bullpen. Carter will continue to compete with the Aurora University Spartans this upcoming season. With two years of coaching experience, Carter looks to help players refine their skills and further their playing careers.

  • Matt Heubner - Top Tier Springfield Director

  • Josh Weeks - Central Illinois DIRECTOR

    Josh was a Michigan All-state selection at pitcher and shortstop for Lansing Eastern High School where he earned an invite to the Michigan High School Coaches all star game at Tiger Stadium. Josh went on to play for Michigan State University where he was a 4 year starting pitcher and was recognized as All Big Ten Honorable Mention his senior season. Josh was later inducted into the Lansing Eastern Athletics Hall of Fame in 2019.

    JOSH HALEY - COACH

    Josh is the head baseball coach at St Joseph - Ogden High School where he has posted a career record of 292-70 including 9 regional titles, 5 sectional titles, and 2 state runner ups. Josh has coached over 40 collegiate baseball players and 1 MLB draft pick. Josh is an alumnus of Millikin University where he was a 4 year baseball letter winner.

    MITCH ROSENTHAL - COACH

    Mitch was the head baseball coach at Parkland CC from 2005-2008 compiling a record of 171-60 including 3 MWAC championships and a NJCAA runner up. Mitch sent 57 players to 4 year schools, coached 9 NJCAA All Americans and 2 MLB draft picks. Mitch served as a scout for the Miami Marlins and scouting director for Prep Baseball Report Indiana. Mitch is an alumnus of Eastern Illinois University where he was a 4 year letter winner.

  • Kyle Stewart - California Director




  • JASON MILLER - Florida director

    Miller, an upstate NY native, was a decorated three sport athlete in high school and received many honors, which culminated with the NYHS State Baseball Championship title his senior year. Later that June, Miller was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays as a 3rd baseman.

    Miller chose college over pro ball and attended The College of Saint Rose in Albany, NY, where he garnered several accolades along the way, including All Conference, All Region, and NCAA All American honors. Miller still holds several all time records, including a single season batting average of .460, 50+ RBI's and 60+ runs and is still among the college's top-10 all-time NCAA era leaders in batting, runs scored, hits, doubles, home runs, RBI, slugging percentage, walks and fielding percentage. Miller was again drafted, this time out of college, by the Texas Rangers as a left-handed hitting catcher and went on to play professional after graduation. Miller has since been voted into the College of Saint Rose Hall of Fame.

    Miller founded the Kangaroo Court Baseball Club in 2015. The organization has experienced tremendous growth, as well as success on the national stage garnering several championship titles and team rankings in multiple age groups. The organization now has it's own state-of-the-art training facility, serving as the indoor home to it's players and teams. Looking to solidify it's place in the high school showcase space, Miller partnered with Top Tier Baseball for it's high school aged players in the fall of 2016.

    The partnership has exploded onto the national scene with positive results both on and off the field. The Top Tier Roos summer teams collected several titles and assumed a place in the national rankings after their first season of play. The program has helped assist players commit to their dreams of playing at the collegiate level with programs like Florida, Wake Forest and FAU, to name a few. These players join the long heritage of Top Tier Baseball commits who's helped place over 250 players at the collegiate level and 85 into the MLB draft.

    Miller also works within the USA Baseball evaluation process in their NTIS program, which helps evaluate and identify players that have aspirations of representing their country on the US National Teams. Miller has helped assist hundreds of players get an opportunity in front of the USA Baseball Task Force in Cary, NC, home of USA Baseball, and a select few reach their dreams of making US national teams.

  • Jay Whannel - Iowa DIRECTOR