Cubs unveil plans for new Dominican academy

[PICHARDO]

Cubs unveil plans for new Dominican academy

Artist rendering of the Cubs’ new baseball academy in the Dominican Republic. (Courtesy Chicago Cubs)

The Cubs' next Starlin Castro will hone his baseball skills at a state-of-the-art academy planned in the Dominican Republic.
Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts, members of his family and a contingent of Cubs staffers were in the Dominican Republic on Thursday morning to unveil renderings of the new facility, to be constructed over the next two years.
Located in La Gina, near the Dominican capital of Santo Domingo, the Cubs facility will span 50 acres, making it the largest academy in the country. It will be open year-round, complete with baseball fields and training facilities, housing for Minor League players during the season and for Major Leaguers in the offseason, and will serve as an education center for Cubs prospects.

Castro, the Cubs' star shortstop, was signed as a free agent out of the Dominican Republic in 2006. The Cubs signed closer Carlos Marmol in the Dominican in 1999.
The new academy will serve players from across the world, including Venezuela, Panama, Colombia, Brazil, Nicaragua, Aruba, Curacao and Mexico, in addition to the Dominican Republic.
The Cubs estimate the complex will take 12-18 months to build.






The academy will feature four fields, including one with artificial turf, four covered batting cages, eight bullpens, a weight room, a cafeteria and kitchen, two locker rooms, two meeting rooms, a large classroom that can be converted to four smaller classrooms, plus a theatre and video room. An on-site dormitory will house up to 80 players and eight staff members.
The academy will serve as an educational center equipped with classrooms and staff to teach English and Spanish to players and personnel, and players will be able to earn their GED high school equivalent. The Cubs say the center will place an emphasis on education, health and nutrition.
It is not the first investment in the Dominican Republic by the Ricketts family. They recently donated to the Institute for Latin American Concern to fund a clinic whose goal is to reduce hypertension and diabetes in the northern part of the country.










Adam McCalvy is a reporter for MLB.com. Read his blog, Brew Beat, and follow him on Twitter at@AdamMcCalvy.

Cubs unveil plans for new Dominican academy | MLB.com: News

[pi2]

Excellent ; Cuba and DR are at last natural allies against US imperialism!
pi2

[PICHARDO]

Excellent ; Cuba and DR are at last natural allies against US imperialism!
pi2

?????????????

Did you skip your morning pills today???

[playacaribe2]

The Chicago Cubs are just doing what every other MLB club is doing...prepping for the day in 2014 when there will be an international draft. Once instituted, according to MLB rules, any player drafted must be 18...and must have a high school degree.

This should go a long way to protecting players from the "buscones" who roam the country and who help facilitate the age/identity fraud that has become so rampant in the DR.


Respectfully,
Playacaribe2