O's new Dominican Republic facility set to open on Tuesday

The Orioles' international program took another step forward today with the announcement that the club's new complex in the Dominican Republic will officially open Tuesday. The Orioles will host an opening ceremony for the new state-of-the-art training academy in Guerra, Dominican Republic, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. AST.

Several dignitaries and current and former O's players will attend, as will executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias and the club's vice president of international scouting and operations Koby Perez.

Said Elias: "This grand opening marks another major milestone in scouting and player development that will keep our minor league pipeline flowing and preserve winning baseball in Baltimore for years to come.”

The 22.5-acre complex is home to the Orioles’ regional facility for Caribbean, Central and South American player development operations, and includes three full fields, a sports turf agility field, batting and pitching tunnels, administrative buildings, dormitories, and educational facilities. The complex will house more than 100 players, coaches and staff, providing dormitory-style rooms and entertainment spaces and includes three classrooms and a computer lab, which will provide on-site learning and an education plan for each player, as well as a dining room that will offer daily nutritious meals.

“This academy is the culmination of years of hard work by so many people, and I am grateful to everyone who made this a reality,” said Elias. “For the last several years, one of the main goals of our partnership group and front office has been to excel in Latin America, and I am very pleased by what we as an organization, led by Koby Perez, have accomplished in this sector."

Added Perez: “I am incredibly proud to say that the Baltimore Orioles now have one of finest training facilities in the Dominican Republic. The impact this complex will have on the future success of the Orioles, and the young players that we recruit and sign, is immeasurable. Having a state-of-the-art facility will not only allow us to continue to attract top international talent to the organization but will also allow us to teach them valuable life skills off the field that will benefit them for the rest of their lives.”

Among those schedule to attend next week are the 2023 Mariano Rivera AL Reliever of the Year Félix Bautista and current Oriole infielder Jorge Mateo. O's alumni expected include Baseball Hall of Famer Vladimir Guerrero Sr., Hanser Alberto, Daniel Cabrera, Nelson Cruz, Radhames Liz, Melvin Mora and Miguel Tejeda as well as O's minor leaguers, many of whom began their careers playing on similar fields and academies in the area. 

Several dignitaries are scheduled to attend the event, including Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader, Dominican Republic vice minister of sports Elvis Duarte and Dominican Republic commissioner of baseball Junior Noboa. 

The project was led by landowner and developer Brian Mejia of Brison SRL. The Orioles were represented by renowned Dominican academy architect Jose Mella, who is considered one of the foremost training facility architects in the Dominican Republic, having designed around half of the current academies in the DR today.

The Orioles first broke ground on the new academy in the fall of 2021.

Since Elias was hired in November 2018, the Orioles have signed two of their largest international signing classes in 2019-20 and 2022-23. A new signing class will be announced on Monday. The O's have also added their first four players signed internationally to bonuses of $1 million or more.

They are now seeing players from their international program move up the ranks on their farm and begin to get some prospect recognition. Catcher Samuel Basallo, signed for $1.3 million in 2021, is now the club's highest-rated international prospect and is ranked in the top 100 by both Baseball America and MLBPipeline.com.

Basallo is ranked as the club's No. 2 prospect by Baseball America and No. 5 by MLB Pipeline in ratings that should be updated over the next few weeks. Also, five other international players are among the current O's top 30 via MLB Pipeline with outfielder Braylin Tavera (O’s No. 16), infielder Leandro Arias (O's No. 18), infielder Frederick Bencosme (O’s No. 23), infielder Luis Almeyda (O's No. 25) and left-handed pitcher Luis De Leon (O’s No. 26).

The Orioles will host a clinic for kids from communities across the Dominican Republic at the academy on Wednesday, Jan. 17, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The organization and the Orioles Advocates will be providing 150 baseball gloves to the clinic participants, gathered at collections in Baltimore throughout the 2023 season. O’s players, coaches and alumni will teach the participants from across the DR a variety of baseball skills throughout the day.

I have written recently stories about the club's international program getting additional prospect recognition here and about the upcoming signing class here.