Kevin Santiago
Hitting CoachKevin Santiago returns to the ThunderBolts in 2025 as Hitting Coach. This will be his fifth year with the ThunderBolts and tenth coaching at a professional level.
Santiago’s first professional coaching position was with the Joliet Jackhammers (Northern League) as an assistant from 2002-04 before leaving baseball. He returned to the sport in 2018 as an assistant for the Joliet Slammers (Frontier League) helping the club win the league title. Santiago served as Hitting Coach of the ThunderBolts in 2019 and 2021-22 under former manager Brian Smith. After the 2019 season in Crestwood, Santiago spent the COVID affected 2020 in Joliet with the Tully Monsters squad as part of the City of Champions Cup. Santiago returned to the ThunderBolts staff in 2024 when Bobby Jenks joined the club.
Santiago played his high school ball in nearby Tinley Park at Andrew High School, where he earned All-Conference, All-Area and All-State honors. After high school he played at South Suburban College (NJCAA) in South Holland. He represented the Bulldogs well finishing as the career home run leader for the team. He also was named to the All-Regional team twice and earned All-American honors.