He currently works with over 100 pitchers of all ages each year through private and group classes and elite training classes for high school juniors and seniors.

Mike Grady — Founder & Head Instructor

Mike Grady doesn't coach pitchers the way most people do.

There are no secret drills. No magic cues. No guru tricks passed down from some unnamed big-league coach. At GPS, every pitcher gets an individualized plan built on data, Trackmand and Rapsodo pitch tracking, biomechanical video analysis, and research-backed strength programming. If it can't be measured, it doesn't make the program.

That approach has produced results that speak for themselves. Since launching the VIP Off-Season Program in 2014 with just 8 pitchers, the program has grown to over 100 athletes annually — making it the largest and longest-running off-season pitching development program in Ohio. As of spring of 2025, 82 VIP alumni are on active college or professional rosters.

Mike built GPS from the ground up. He started giving private pitching lessons over 15 years ago, grew that into the VIP program, co-founded Velocity Sports with two training facilities in North Canton and Canal Fulton, and developed the GPS Athletics product line — a collection of weighted training balls and pitching development tools now sold nationwide on Amazon, Walmart, and the GPS Athletics website.

Before going full-time with his businesses in 2022, Mike spent years in the classroom as a teacher and on the bench as a college pitching coach. At Malone University, his pitching staff broke the school wins record three times, ranked first in the conference in ERA three out of five seasons, and posted a team ERA of 3.07 in 2009 — the best in all of NAIA that year. He also coached five pitchers who went on to sign professional contracts while leading the Stark County Terriers in the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League.

Mike grew up in North Canton, pitched at Hoover High School as a two-time All-Federal League selection, played four years at Ohio Wesleyan University, where he won two conference championships, and spent a season pitching professionally for the Washington Wild Things in 2005.

He still lives in North Canton with his wife, Lesley, and their two kids, Michael and Audrey.