Braves Academy an investment in player development

NORTH PORT, FLA. — The Braves have built more than a stadium and practice fields at their new spring training complex. They’ve also built what they call the Braves Academy.

It’s a two-story, 45,000-squarefoot building, completed in December at a cost of $14 million, that includes classrooms, a large theater-style auditorium, dormitory-style guest rooms, a cafeteria and even a barber shop.

The Braves plan to utilize the academy year-round in training young players as they come into the organization, often as teenagers, and acclimate to professional baseball.

“It’s the epicenter of our development of the player,” said Mike Dunn, the Braves’ vice president of Florida operations. “We’ll be able to take the player and not only structure the development on the field, but really enhance the off-the-field environment . ... It is equally important (to help develop) the person.”

The Braves Academy will offer classes for young players on topics ranging from nutrition to public speaking to “how to do laundry,” Dunn said. English-language classes will be held for international players.

The academy building includes 37 dorm-style guest rooms, which can be set up to sleep two or three minor league players each. Some minor leaguers will have rooms there during spring training.

While the Braves’ overall North Port complex will be known foremost for hosting spring training, it also will be home to two of the organization’s minor-league teams: the rookie-level Gulf Coast League Braves and, at least for this year, the high Single-A Florida Fire Frogs, formerly based in Kissimmee. In addition, players drafted by the Braves will begin their professional journeys with evaluations in North Port before being assigned to a team. So there’ll be no shortage of players using the facility, including the academy, through the summer.

“This is the future of the Atlanta Braves,” Dunn said. “It’s most definitely where everything will start . ... It will only benefit player development and the future of the Braves.”

The academy’s auditorium has 220 theater-style seats, each bearing the Braves’ “A” logo. The seats face a large theater-like screen on which players and coaches will able to watch feeds from the

Braves’ major- and minor-league games during the season.

The building also has a recreation room, where several minorleague players at the facility to rehab from injuries were playing pingpong on a late January afternoon, and a conference room.

The academy is part of a 90-acre, $139 million complex that includes, in addition to the stadium named CoolToday Park, seven practice fields, 11 batting cages and 63 pitching mounds.

The Braves said they privately funded the full $14 million cost of the academy. The rest of the stadium complex cost $125 million, which was funded with a combination of public and private money.

In designing the academy, the Braves borrowed some ideas from the Minnesota Twins’ similar player development academy in Fort Myers. The Braves didn’t have space for such a building at their previous spring training site near Orlando. They and other MLB teams long have operated baseball academies in the Dominican Republic.

TIM TUCKER / TTUCKER@AJC.COM The $14 million Braves Academy includes 37 dorm-style guest rooms and will be used year-round for training young players as they come into the organization.