Shane Halley. Photo: JMU Athletics
Shane Halley was drafted out of the University of Virginia in the 20th round by the Kansas City Royals in 2012, but less than three years later was at a crossroads in his baseball career.
“I finished playing when the Rockies told me my time was up,” said Halley, who pitched in the minors at Single-A Asheville in the Colorado system in 2015 and had a lifetime ERA of 5.20 in pro ball. “I was kind of in limbo in what I wanted to do – go to grad school or get into coaching. I had hurt my back and had a herniated disc. I could barely get out of bed.”
Christopher Newport University pitching coach Ron Frazier, working in Prague at the time, asked Halley if he wanted to play in Europe. “My back was not ready. I decided to go into coaching,” Halley said.
After coaching a few months with Prime Time Baseball in Northern Virginia, where Halley worked with middle school, high and college level players, a friend told him about the chance to teach the game in China with Major League Baseball.
“It was a no-brainer to work with MLB and influence players in a foreign country. I was all about that. It was a great two years,” said Halley, getting ready for his second season as the pitching coach at JMU. “I met a lot of great people, and I traveled to India, Indonesia, Chinese Taipei and Cambodia. It was quite an eye-opening experience. It makes you appreciate what you have in the USA.”
Halley’s family background also influenced his decision to teach in China, where he helped develop the first Chinese pitchers to sign with Major League organizations.
The American was born in Cuba on Sept. 28, 1989.
“That is accurate. My dad was a fighter pilot, and that was one of his first stations, in Cuba,” Halley said. “It was always fun in pro ball to (jokingly) tell Cubans and Dominicans I was from Cuba. I was born on American soil, in Guantánamo Bay. It is a pretty funny story.”
A few months after he was born, his family moved to Jacksonville.
“We travelled a lot with my dad being in the Navy,” Halley said. “He was in the Navy for 28 years. After Jacksonville we moved to Montgomery, Alabama, two years in Stuttgart, Germany, and then South Carolina for three years, and then to Northern Virginia, where my brother and I started high school. I consider that home. That is the longest I lived anywhere.”
The right-hander was a standout at Lake Braddock High in Burke before heading to Charlottesville.
With the Cavaliers in 2012, he was 9-2 with an ERA of 2.15 in 22 games, with three starts for coach Brian O’Connor. He had one hit in 15 at-bats for Virginia as a two-way player.
“During my time was a player it was tough to appreciate what he was preaching,” Halley said of O’Connor, who earlier this year took the head job at Mississippi State. “As I have become a coach, I understand where he comes from. I understand how precious his teachings were. He always said the right thing at the right time. He is just a class act. He surrounds himself with the right people. He let his coaches do his thing. He was an excellent ambassador for UVA Baseball. He set the standard for what it meant to be a Cavalier and a winner. It was tough to see him leave. He has done so much for UVA. I think he was excited for a new challenge.”
Before joining the JMU staff before the 2024 season, Halley was a pitching coach and recruiting coordinator for Division III Marymount in Arlington. “The talent is far more polished with far more talented and athletic players” at Division I, he said. “That is not a knock on Division III. I see Division III transform into a pretty competitive and pretty athletic level of baseball. Maybe they are hard workers. Maybe they are just late bloomers. These kids are not on scholarship.”
JMU was 17-38 overall and 10-20 in the Sun Belt Conference in 2024, and allowed 292 earned runs while their opponents gave up 188 earned runs.
“The speed of the game is significant faster,” Halley said. “The biggest adjustment was adapting to the volume of information that is out there. That hit me the first weekend at Florida State,” where the Dukes opened the 2025 season.
“We are very excited to have Shane and his family be a part of our JMU baseball family,” JMU coach Marlin Ikenberry said in a statement when Halley was hired. “He brings a wealth of knowledge, having coached and played at the professional level, and did an unbelievable job the last four years at Marymount. He’s been around some of the best in the business, and we are really excited for him to really help our pitching staff and be a part of this program.”
Halley was the third pitching coach in three seasons for the Dukes. Jimmy Jackson, who was with the program through the 2023 season, is now the pitching coach at the University of Maryland. Travis Ferrick, who had been at the University of Dayton, was the JMU pitching coach in 2024 before taking a job at Wright State, also in Ohio.
“It is definitely a slower pace of life compared to Arlington,” Halley said of Harrisonburg. “The one thing that stands out to me it is the sense of community. My wife and kids are really acclimating well. We really love the area.”
JMU loses out on O’Connor
Pitcher Dillon O’Connor de-committed from JMU this past summer; he is the son of former Virginia coach Brian O’Connor, who is now at Mississippi State.
“He was in our 2026 class. He decommitted the end of July or the middle of July,” Halley said. “It was a personal decision. We were really excited about his potential. It was a personal choice. I wish him nothing but the best. He will be great wherever he goes.”
The younger O’Connor pitches at The Miller School for coach Billy Wagner, a 2025 inductee into the Baseball Hall of Fame who grew up in Southwest Virginia.
Notes
Marymount was ranked in the top 25 for the first time in 2024 while Halley was on staff.
JMU lost pitcher Jackson Logar to the transfer portal and Mississippi State. “It was tough losing him to Mississippi State. He was one of the horses last year,” Halley said. “I wish him nothing but the best. It is tough to lose him. In the landscape of the game now you have to anticipate that. I have no doubt he will be a great asset for them.”
The Dukes’ pitching staff gained Patrick Bauer, who was a Division II All-American at Frostburg in Maryland. He is one of several JMU pitchers with pro potential, per Halley.
Halley pitched with Idaho Falls in the Kansas City system in 2014. Other pitchers that season included future Major Leaguers Eric Stout, Matt Strahm and Kyle Zimmer. “Kyle and I were roommates. Matt and I had Tommy John surgery the same day with the same doctor,” Halley said. Strahm has pitched this season for the Philadelphia Phillies.
Prime Time Baseball in Northern Virginia is spearheaded by Chris Berset, who was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds and reached the Triple-A level with Louisville as a catcher; and John Skaggs, who played in the Peach State League in Georgia and has been the head coach at Yorktown High in Arlington. Per com, Berset is the only pro player to come out of The Heights School in Potomac, Md. He played at the University of Michigan.