"Hello Coach Prater,  I wanted to take a moment to thank you for all you have done for my son these past months. No one.....not his parents, not his HS coach, not his teammates encourages him more than you (constantly) do! Without a doubt, we are grateful for the warm hand of friendship you have extended to us. We only hope that you feel the same. From the bottom of my heart, thank you!", Fondly, proud mom

    Director of Player development, Coach Prater, is a former member of the Florida Marlins & Mets organization's  and a current member of the Milwaukee Brewers scouting department. In the summer of 2003, Coach Prater was interim hitting instructor for the Milwaukee Brewers Class A team, Beloit Snappers,  where he had the fortunate opportunity to work with current and future Major League stars, Rickie Weeks, Prince Fielder, and Tony Gwynn Jr. Coach Prater is also the director of player development for Baseball Solutions and head varsity baseball coach at St.Andrew's high school. Coach Prater's influence extend's all the way to Hollywood where he is a baseball technical advisor and primary baseball instructor for REELSPORTS SOLUTIONS, a company specializing in sports action in major motion pictures and television. He is a member of the Screen Actors guild (SAG) and has appeared in feature films and television: The Rookie, Mr.3000, Superman Returns, Clubhouse (TV). Coach Prater was recently featured in Austin Monthly Magazine as someone who has "Every Fan's Dream Job". He is happily married to Meredith Stewart Prater.

    Coach Prater has been a player development coordinator for ball players in Austin for several years. Each year he coordinates a baseball community service project assembling and All-Star Panel of Speakers to share insights into the world of baseball in which we live and play in. 

Coach Prater's  baseball resume and mentors include:

-Graduate of Travis High School- 

High school coaches: coaching legend's  Rudy Alvarez (current;y @ Bowie HS) and Tom Hancock (former Dripping Springs head coach)

-Recruited by University of Texas legend, Cliff Gustafson and signed a letter of intent to play at the University of Texas-

-Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 10th round of the major league draft-

-Attended Junior College-

Junior College coaches - Wayne Graham (current head coach @ Rice Univ)   Chris Rupp (current head coach @ Sam Houston State Univ)  

Kevin Smallcomb (current head coach @ Univ Northern Colorado)

-Signed professioanl contract with Florida Marlins organization & New York Mets organization-

Professional coaches-John Boles (former Florida Marlins manager) Carlos Tosca (former Toronto Blue Jays manager, currently 3rd base coach for Arizona Diamond Backs)   Lynn Jones (former major leaguer and 1st base coach Boston Red Sox) 

Fredi Gonzales (currently 3rd base coach Atlanta Braves)  Hal Lanier (former Houston Astros manager)

Coaching mentors / influences:

"Smokey" Garrett (former big league hitting coach Kansas City Royals, current AAA hitting coach for Cincinnati Reds)

Rudy Alvarez (Bowie high school head coach)

Bart Bratcher (Westwood high school head coach)

Howard Herrera (UT baseball staff)

CRU NEWS March 10th

CRU NEWS April 24th