Wrapping up his 11th season at Cal State Fullerton in 2017, former Titan catcher Chad Baum returned to the Titans as the program’s volunteer assistant in 2012, his 13th season as a college coach at the time. In 2014, Baum shed the volunteer label and became the team’s second assistant coach.

Baum finished his 18th year as a collegiate coach in 2017 and is a veteran of six College World Series appearances as a Titan player and coach including a trip back to Omaha in 2017. It was the second time over the last three seasons that the Titans had qualified for the CWS, as Fullerton made it in 2015 as well.

Baum had spent seven seasons as an assistant coach at both UC Irvine and Santa Clara before returning to Fullerton.

Baum coached in the 1,000th game of his coaching career on May 28, 2016 at Long Beach State, the regular season finale. He holds a 641-425 record as an assistant at the NCAA Division I level. He has coached more than half of those games as a member of the Titans coaching staff (2000-04, 2012-present), holding a 455-226 record as a member of the Titans coaching staff.

Baum first served on a Titan staff in 2000 as an undergraduate assistant coach for then-Titan skipper George Horton. The next season he assumed the volunteer position and completed a coaching staff that led Fullerton to three College World Series appearances and the school’s fourth national championship between 2001 and 2004.

His expertise behind the plate helped him tutor 2004 All-American and Johnny Bench Award winner Kurt Suzuki, who has since gone on to a eight-year major league career with the Oakland A’s, Washington Nationals and Atlanta Braves. In all, Baum has worked with 30 Titan position players who were selected in the major league draft and also worked with Titan major leaguers Mike Rouse (2001), Shane Costa (2002), Justin Turner (2004), Blake Davis (2004), Matt Chapman (2014) and J.D. Davis (2014), .

In 2005, he left Fullerton to be a part of Dave Serrano’s first staff at UC Irvine, where he served two seasons as the Anteaters’ first base coach, hitting instructor and catching tutor.

He moved out of the Big West Conference and into the West Coast Conference in 2007 when he joined Mark O’Brien’s staff at Santa Clara. While in the Bay Area, Baum served as the Broncos’ third base coach, primary hitting/catching instructor and also assisted in the program’s recruiting efforts.

The Broncos hit .325 and scored more than seven runs per game in both 2008 (ranked 19th in the nation in batting average) and 2010 (ranked 42nd in the nation in batting average), while leading the WCC in nearly all offensive categories those same years.

In five seasons with Santa Clara, he helped five position players get drafted including catchers Tommy Medica (14th round) and Geoff Klein (15th round).

In his past four years at Cal State Fullerton, Baum has coached third base and tutored the team’s catching staff, including 2013 MLB fifth-round draft pick and current major leaguer Chad Wallach. He also mentored catcher Chris Hudgins, who was taken by the Kansas City Royals in the 16th round of the 2017 MLB Draft.

 In 2013, the Titan offense batted .285 with 89 doubles, 24 triples and 35 home runs while driving in 339 runs. Baum also tutored Jared Deacon in 2014, who went on to be selected by the San Francisco Giants in the 33rd round of the 2014 MLB Draft. In 2015, catcher A.J. Kennedy was selected by the San Diego Padres in the MLB Draft. 

Baum, who graduated with a degree in kinesiology in 1999, was a Titan team captain in 1998 and again in 1999, when Fullerton reached the College World Series. Baum appeared in 38 games over the two-year stretch and hit three home runs in just 44 at-bats. He was also reliable behind the plate, turning in a perfect 1.000 career fielding percentage (70 chances).

Prior to his pair of seasons in a Titan uniform, Baum spent a season each at Santa Ana College and Golden West College in Huntington Beach. Baum batted .306 in 1997 for the Dons, who were ranked No.1 in the country during most of the season. He was selected in the 42nd round of the 1997 draft by the San Francisco Giants.

Baum prepped for Coach Mike Najera at Canyon H.S. in Anaheim Hills and earned honorable mention All-Century League honors. While at Canyon, Baum hit one of nine home runs that set a one-game CIF record for the Comanches.

Baum earned his master’s degree in education in 2005 from Azuza Pacific. He, his wife, Kristin, and daughter, Kennedy, live in Anaheim Hills.