On the upswing
Tryouts for new teams taking place Saturday
Upper Deck American Legion baseball is expanding its program to include AAU teams.
CUMBERLAND – What started as simply a normal, impromptu conversation about baseball between longtime friends Brad Dean, John Stefanik and Steve Reynolds Sr. earlier this year has become quite the coup for the Upper Deck Baseball Academy.
When Reynolds Sr. says “Upper Deck is going uptown” he isn’t kidding.
Reynolds Sr., who had previously served as the UD American Legion squad’s general manager, informed his buddies during that gathering that he would be retiring from his position as North Smithfield police chief come late winter, and that prompted the trio to begin discussing ways to expand other UD programs.
First on the list: Launching a new Showcase baseball program, one that’s geared to athletes competing at the under-14, under-15 and under-16 levels.
“For years now, we have provided a world-class facility and coaching staff to support the year-round training of high school baseball players working to get to the next level,” stated Dean, UPBA’s founder, owner and president. “The college recruiting process continues to evolve, so we wanted to respond by developing a very unique program based on optimizing an athlete’s ability to play the next level.
“The program reflects the realities of today’s competitive baseball environment,” he continued. “Players are training yearround with professional coaches focused on skill development while working hard to get faster and stronger.
“The Showcase programs we’re beginning to launch require a dedicated, year-long commitment to skills training via a professional coaching staff, but it also will integrate strength and conditioning training through our partnership with GLG Performance. We have expanded the UD facility to include GLG training (a mammoth apartment-like structure that will cater not only to athletes’ strength training but also receive advice on nutrition, etc.).
“We have created a truly dynamic environment for senior baseball players to work out and thrive.”
The owner of GLG Performance, Jay Oldham, is a 2001 graduate of and former baseball player at East Providence High. He then moved on to Rhode Island College and played for a year before receiving a Bachelor’s degree in health and physical education in 2007. Oldham coached Lincoln to the Jimmy Fund title earlier this month.
He also is a certified physical trainer. “We want to provide an ‘all-in-one’ service, where kids aren’t only hitting and fielding and pitching and getting work on technical aspects of the sport, but also getting stronger, understanding how to prevent injuries and the proper things to eat in order to excel,” he explained. “My clientele ranges in age from 11-year-olds to collegians to professionals.”
Among those more noteworthy household names: Nick Zammarelli, a Lincoln product now playing Single-A (high) ball for the Seattle Mariners; Mike King, a Hendricken grad and Triple-A player for the New York Yankees; and Rob Henry, who is from Cranston and Brown University grad, who was draftted by the Milwaukee Brewers.
That doesn’t include dozens of collegians, some of the them from Maine, Boston College, the University of Rhode Island.
The way this threesome views it, they’re offering a situation vastly unlike other AAU programs in the area or region.
“One thing in particular which should draw the interest for kids is that they will be allowed, if they so choose, to play not only for their Showcase team, but also a Legion team,” Dean noted. “The way we look at it, the more ball a kid plays the better.”
Interrupted Reynolds Sr.: “We also not only have quality coaches but quality peo- ple as well. We’ll be offering a well-rounded program at an extremely affordable price.”
While offers to area players to register for the U14, U15 and U16 clubs have been made and rosters are starting to be developed, UD staff members will conduct tryouts for high-caliber athletes this Saturday at Chet Nichols Field in Lincoln.
Those will be held for the U15 team at 1 p.m., the U16 squad at 3 p.m. and the U14 club at 5 p.m. All players are asked to report 15 minutes before their appropriate times, and they should bring all of their own gear to use for such tryouts.
“This is for kids who already know they truly want to play in college someday and will do anything to reach that goal,” Dean said. “They have to have the desire and tal- ent, and they’re going to have to work hard.
“Basically, this is a new exciting UD venture to give kids better chances to play at a very high level,” he added. “If you think about it, our senior Legion program has been the most successful statewide for at least the past 15 years. Since 2004, we’ve won six state championships and a (Northeast) regional crown. That same year (2016), we finished third at the Legion World Series, but it goes beyond that.
“You also have to look at the success the Cumberland American and Lincoln (Little League) All-Stars have had. CALL has been to the Little League World Series twice, and Lincoln’s been three times. A lot of those kids have trained here.”
Dean also indicated that these tryouts are open to not just Cumberland and Lincoln but to those throughout the Ocean State, not to mention Connecticut and Massachusetts.
Then there’s the staff Dean has put together. Reynolds Sr. will serve as the Showcase program’s general manager, while Stefanik, the UD vice president, will be in an advisory position.
Steve Reynolds Jr. will take the reins of the U16 team (with his dad as an assistant), while former LHS varsity assistant Kevin Dicomitis will do the same for the U15 club. John LaRose, the former Johnson & Wales skipper and current assistant athletic director, will head the U14 program, and he will be assisted by Paul Vieira, the manager of the De La Salle Middle School team in Providence.
But there’s so much more. UD has gleaned the talents of other knowledgeable instructors, among them Wade Briggs for pitching, LaRose and former RIC mentor Jay Grenier for hitting, etc.
“Combining focused year-round training, connectivity to college coaches and effective participation on the showcase tournament circuit will position our players to enhance their potential to play at the next level,” Reynolds Sr. said. “I’m excited, as we have developed a team of exceptional coaches for each showcase team coupled with dedicated hitting and pitching instructors who will ensure a consistent approach to training and skill development across the program.
“We also believe there’s a need to combine instruction with a focus on strength and conditioning, and the players in our program will take advantage of the resources that (now) exist at UD. This is all about development of our players and then providing optimal exposure to coaches at the next level.”
Mentioned Dean: “Upper Deck has always been kind of a community-oriented place for the hard-core baseball kids to come and get batting practice, work on their pitching or speed, etc., but now we want to serve more kids; we’re looking to expand our services, we’re reaching out,” Dean said. That’s not all.
“Just last year, we started an AAU team for nine-and-under kids, the Stone Crabs, and they played probably a 20-game-plus season,” Reynolds Sr. noted. “That was so successful, we’ve decided to expand it to at least six teams, maybe even eight, this year.
“In all, we’ll have two Junior Legion teams, one Senior Legion, and the three Showcase teams. That’s expansion.”
For more information, visit www.upperdeckba@verizon.net.