After a seven-year hiatus, two-time NECBL champion manager and current Director of Baseball Operations John Raiola is returning to the dugout to manage the Valley Blue Sox this summer.
Raiola spent five summers at the helm for the Blue Sox from 2015-2019, winning NECBL Championships in both the 2017 and 2018 seasons. After stepping down from the role, he took over as the head coach at Elms College, staying involved with recruiting and roster construction in Holyoke each summer.
With Endy Morales moving on to the Bananaball League after managing the squad last year, Raiola made the decision to step back in for the 2026 campaign.
“It’s something that I’m really looking forward to,” Raiola said. “The Blue Sox have really been a big part of my coaching career, and really, why I’ve been in Western Mass. It’s what brought me to Western Mass. back in 2015.”
The decision to step away in 2019 for Raiola was due to taking over at Elms, wanting to shift more of his focus to his new role at the time. Now, seven years later, with a foundation built with the Blazers, this season seemed like the perfect opportunity to fully get back involved.
“I have a few really good assistants who can help recruit throughout the summer,” Raiola said. “In my role with the Blue Sox, the last handful of years, I’ve been at all the home games and built the roster while also recruiting and having other responsibilities at Elms… Now it’s all come together, and we’re in a good spot at Elms. I’m excited to get back in the dugout.”
Throughout his years as the Director of Baseball Operations, Raiola has continued to find what gives teams the most success in the NECBL, using what he’s learned to build the 2026 roster into one he’s proud of.
Different traits in players have shown varying levels of success in Raiola’s time in Holyoke, with the manager now feeling more confident than ever that he knows what it takes to build a full roster that can thrive in the summer-ball setting.
“It’s not just about trying to get the 16 best hitters that you can and just riding the hot hand the whole time,” Raiola said. “We have a rotation, we really try to have good compliments to everybody and not have too many left-handed outfielders versus right, all the different combinations that we can play so that we can put guys in the best situation and be successful.”
With summer leagues serving as a great place for players to show off in front of pro scouts and improve their skills, Raiola puts a focus on not only keeping that at the front of his mind, but also finding a group of guys who truly want to win.
After 12 total years with the Blue Sox, Raiola knows what the team’s success does for the community and all of the people helping make the team operate at a high level. The manager is intent on being competitive throughout the summer, giving Holyoke a team to be proud of.
“We want to win, we want to do it the right way and we want a team component,” Raiola said. “There are a lot of people that are involved in this process, and we have great support from the fans. We want to put a good product on the field. And if we do everything the right way, the wins will take care of themselves, but it is important.
“That’s something in the process of recruiting the team and bringing all these guys in, we make very clear to the coaches, that we don’t want guys that only care about themselves and just want to get their at-bats or their innings and get out of here,” Raiola continued. “We want guys that want to grind, and the best part of their day is showing up at the field.”
As the season rapidly approaches, Raiola is ready to get going, excited to get his team together to get to work. Not scratching the itch of a championship since that 2018 season, Raiola is set on winning the whole thing again this summer.
“We haven’t gotten back to where we wanted in a little while,” Raiola said. “If we show up every single day and our guys are ready to work and our coaching staff is prepared and, working with them on the things that they need to do to be the best version of themselves and the best professionals, the wins and the losses will take care of themselves.”
“At the end of the day, if we do those things, and they leave better than they came, and they had a positive experience, that’s success for us,” Raiola continued.
