Tito Fuentes, Jr., is in his first year as an assistant baseball coach for Sonoma State in 2018.
Fuentes Jr., son of the legendary San Francisco Giants 2nd Baseman, was born in the Dominican Republic, where he was taught about the great game of baseball by such greats as his father, Tito Fuentes Sr., and Juan Marichal. During his father’s 14 years in the Big Leagues and for the past 25 years, Tito Jr. traveled back and forth to the Dominican Republic annually to be immersed into the 24/7 baseball culture of the Caribbean.
After High School, Tito was invited by Juan Marichal to the Dominican Minor Leagues and joined the Oakland A’s and Los Angeles Dodgers camps in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. While there, Tito experienced playing ball with Roberto Duran, Jose Mesa, Felix Rodrigues, Apolinar Garcia, Rene Suarez, Moises Alou and many more future Big Leaguers. Although Tito's career was cut short by injuries, it was there where Tito developed a passion and love for teaching baseball; a passion he wished to share with others who wanted to become better players.
As a long time resident of Napa, Tito along with his wife Alma Fuentes and in-laws, became the new owners of the historic Old Adobe restaurant. “We were looking to open a small Cuban sandwich shop”, Tito laughs. During his ownership at the local watering hole, Tito was fully immersed in Napa culture and credits building many great friendships to serving up Caribbean and Mexican food and drinks to the Old Adobe. After the damaging earthquake, Tito and Alma saw it best to sell the historical landmark to friend, George Altamira.
In 2006 Tito and his wife formalized Tito’s instructional goals and opened the Tito Fuentes Baseball Academy, a non-profit organization. In addition to offering baseball clinics, private instruction and competitive travel team management, Tito mentors underserved athletes and continues to find “roadmaps” for players wishing to continue playing ball after high school. Locally, Tito coached in the Cal Ripken/Babe Ruth youth league as well as served on its board of directors. In 2010, Tito was named manager of the Freshman baseball team at Justin Siena High School in Napa.
In 2012, Tito began consulting for the Pacific Association Baseball League alongside founder Mike Shapiro. Tito scouted for all the teams and assisted with organizing league-wide tryouts bringing in players from Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and Venezuela. Tito went on to manage the Vallejo Admirals in 2013-14.
Today, Tito continues to train and scout professional ball players and is now very excited to be the first manger of the newest team in the Pacific Association League – the Napa Silverados.
