Paul Svagdis

Tufts University

Svagdis was recruited to play at Tufts by John Casey, the legendary Jumbo baseball leader whom he replaced after Casey’s retirement. A two-year team captain of the Jumbos, Svagdis played first base for the team from 1990-93. He hit .402 in his Jumbo career, and his 17 home runs and 113 runs batted in are also on the program’s all-time top 10 lists. At Azusa Pacific, in 20 seasons he amassed 606 wins for the most in program history. He produced 16 All Americans, 14 Academic All-Americans and eight conference Players of the Year. In 25 years of head coaching overall, Svagdis has a record of 718-429 for a .625 career win percentage. His teams have won eight regular-season conference titles and he’s earned seven Conference Coach of the Year awards. He has guided his teams to six NCAA Regionals and five NAIA Regionals, including the 2007 and 2008 teams that advanced to the NAIA World Series. Svagdis has coached over 35 players drafted by Major League Baseball teams. The MBCA is honored to have Coach Svagdis speak about the hitting philosophy and player development he instills at Tufts.