Frank Damas enters his seventh season on the FIU baseball coaching staff, serving as Turtle Thomas’s associate head coach and recruiting coordinator. Damas joined FIU in January 2009 as an assistant coach and was promoted to the role of associate head coach and national recruiting coordinator following the 2011 season.
Damas has proven himself as one of the best recruiters in all of college baseball, as he has brought in some of the top talent in the country. Most recently, Damas and FIU cracked the top 25 for second straight year in Perfect Game’s recruiting rankings, as the 2015 incoming class was ranked 18th nationally. This comes after the 2014 freshman class was ranked eighth by the publication, making it two-straight years that the Panthers have had the highest ranked recruiting classes in Conference USA. Additionally, Damas' 2012 recruiting class was ranked as one of the best in the southern region by Baseball America and in the top-20 by Perfect Game USA.
Take the recruiting rankings away, Damas’s recruits have proven themselves on the field. In total, three of the last five years, FIU has had a conference player of the year. On the national stage, FIU has had four All-Americans during Damas’s tenure, including two during the 2014 season in Aramis Garcia and Mike Franco. Damas has also landed five Freshman All-Americans at FIU, including 2014 Conference USA Freshman of the Year Chris Mourelle. Speaking of that 2014 season, FIU posted a 36-20 record, set the C-USA single season record in shutouts (14) and team ERA (2.29). Mike Gomez earned the school’s all-time saves record and Franco broke the C-USA single season ERA record. Offensively , the Panthers led the conference in batting average as well during the 2014 campaign.
Since his arrival at FIU, 11 of his players were drafted in the MLB Amateur draft, most recently Garcia (53rd overall pick to the Giants), Franco (7th round – Tampa Bay), Mike Gomez (13th round – Chicago White Sox) and Louis Silverio (33rd round – White Sox). All-American Tyler Townsend was selected in the third round (85th pick) by the Baltimore Orioles in 2009 along with Tom Ebert (Red Sox, 19th round), Greg Waddel (Seattle Mariners, 39th round) and Ryan Mollica (New York Mets, 47th round). In 2010, pitchers Scott Rembisz and Jorge Marban signed pro contracts with the Florida Marlins and Texas Rangers, respectively. In 2011, he saw two players drafted; Jose Behar (Marlins, 30th round) and Jeremy Patton (Cardinals, 38th). Garrett Wittels (St. Louis Cardinals), Bryam Garcia (Atlanta Braves) and Yoandy Barroso (Chicago White Sox) also signed pro deals in the offseason. In 2013, left-handed pitcher Tyler Alexander was selected by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 27th round.
The 2012 class featured four players drafted in the 2011 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft and two of the top junior college players in the country. The class included Garcia, a local product out of Pines Charter High School in Pembroke Pines, Fla., widely considered a top-10 round draft pick before signing a letter of intent with the Panthers. Garcia went on to be drafted in the 20th round by the St. Louis Cardinals, turning down a substantial amount of money to become a Panther. That decision paid off, as he played three years at FIU, capping off his junior year with C-USA Player of the Year honors as well as being named a Louisville Slugger Collegiate Baseball All-American. Shortstop Julius Gaines (Luella HS; Locust Grove, Ga.) was a Baseball America Preseason High School All-American and was drafted in the 32nd round by the Boston Red Sox. He was ranked at one of the top-100 high school players according to Baseball America and also turned down a substantial amount of money to attend FIU.
The 2011 season was a memorable one, as the Panthers went 40-20-1 and 20-9-1 in Sun Belt Conference action while reaching the NCAA Regionals for the second-straight season. FIU's 40 wins was the most since the Panthers won 41 in 2002. The 20 conference wins were the most ever in the Panthers 15 seasons in the conference. While serving as the outfield and assistant hitting coach, Damas mentored centerfielder Pablo Bermudez who went on to win FIU's second-consecutive Sun Belt Player of the Year award. Bermudez hit a team-high .373 and also scored a team-high 63 runs and stole 17 bases. Bermudez also led all Sun Belt outfielders with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage. In addition to being player of the year, he earned First-Team All-SBC honors and was named to the ABCA All-South Central Regional squad. Bermudez also lowered his strikeout total from 63 to 49 in 2011 and rained his walk total from 33 to 51. In all, the Panthers led the Sun Belt in batting average (.316), slugging percentage (.478), on base percentage (.401), runs scored (435), hits (684), RBI (396), total bases (1,034) and home runs (64). FIU was also the leader in ERA with a combined 3.68 as a team.
In 2010, his Panthers captured the Sun Belt Conference Tournament Title and reached the Coral Gables Regional, FIU's first appearance in a Regional since 2002. Under his tutelage, the Panthers set Sun Belt Tournament records in hits, runs scored and batting average for the entire championship, en route to a berth in the NCAA Tournament. He oversaw an outfield anchored by centerfielder, Bermudez, who committed just one error during the 2010 season. With the assistance of Head Coach Turtle Thomas, Damas helped mentor All-American infielder Garrett Wittels who improved his batting average a whopping .166 points from .246 his freshman year to .412 as a sophomore. Wittels gained notoriety his sophomore season for hitting in an incredible 56-straight games, the second-longest hitting streak in Division I baseball history behind former Major Leaguer, Robin Ventura, who hit safely in 58-straight games in 1988. Wittels went on to win SBC Player of the Year, was named to numerous All-American teams and was even nominated for an ESPY award for Male Best Collegiate Athlete.
Damas headed a staff which saw two of his 2011 signees taken in the first round of the 2010 MLB First Year Player Draft. Shortstop Manny Machado was taken third overall by the Baltimore Orioles while catcher Kellin Deglan was taken 21st overall by the Texas Rangers. This marked the first time a school recruited top rated position players in their respective country's (Machado, USA; Deglan, Canada). In all, His recruits for the 2011 season signed MLB contracts for over $6 million dollars combined. In addition, FIU was the only Florida school to have two recruits taken in the first round of the 2010 draft. Florida, Florida State and Miami each had one signee taken in the first round. LSU led the way with three, followed by FIU and Georgia Tech with two apiece.
"We feel like we have a great young coach who is very knowledgeable in the game of baseball, especially in the recruiting of players all around the country," said FIU head coach Turtle Thomas about Damas. "He knows Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and even Puerto Rico as good as anybody out there. He's outstanding."
Right away Damas made an impact on the FIU offense as he assisted Thomas with hitting instruction. In 2009, FIU hitters combined for a .324 average and 86 home runs. Among the offensive standouts were All-American Tyler Townsend, who hit .426 with 24 homers, All-Conference honoree Tim Jobe, who posted a .362 average with 10 home runs, and freshman All-American Mike Martinez, who hit .335 with six home runs. Townsend later went on to sign with the Baltimore Orioles after being drafted in the 3rd round of the 2010 MLB Amateur Draft. In 2009, Damas was a part of a team that raised its win total from 20 wins in 2008 to 34 in 2009, the largest single-season turnaround in FIU history.
Damas came to FIU after a successful stint as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Miami Dade College. With Damas on their staff from 2003 until 2008, MDC won four Southern Conference championships and posted a combined record of 202-70.
At Miami Dade, Damas served as a position player coach and recruiting coordinator, recruiting 20 players that went on to be drafted by Major League clubs, two All-Americans and 22 first team all-conference performers. Three of his recruits at MDC have reached the big leagues, as Elih Villanueva, a pitcher for the Florida Marlins and Xavier Cedeno, a pitcher for the Houston Astros and current Washington National, each made their Major League Baseball debuts in 2011. Eric Fornataro, a pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, made his debut with club during the 2014 season.
During Damas' stint at Miami Dade, the Sharks led the league in batting average and ERA on their way to earning a No.1 National Ranking at some point in each of the six seasons. Damas also recruited several former Panthers including Eric Berkowitz, Greg Waddell and James Lajiness. In addition, Damas recruited former FIU outfielder, Yoandy Barroso, who was a member of the Chicago White Sox farm system.
Damas is a 2007 graduate from St. Thomas University where he received a Bachelor's Degree in Sports Administration. He is also a certified personal trainer in addition to holding an American Heart Association certification in CPR and first-aid. He currently resides in Miami Lakes, where he lives with his wife, Alexandra and daughters, Sophia and Isabella.
