Baseball Academy coming to Aruba

It won’t be the first since there are a few already but two Americans with ties to the Isle of Aruba are working on a plan to start a baseball academy on the Caribbean island. The academy is named 297 Baseball Academy.

The name 297 Baseball Academy refers to the area code of Aruba.

The two owners of the academy have strong ties in baseball and lots of connections. Brodie Carey is playing for the NCAA Division I University of Maine. Brodie also played in the Future Games which is a team selected of the best players from each state in America. Brodie also played in the Dominican Republic with coaches from Georgetown and Brown University at the time. He was also selected to represent Ireland but could not attend. Brodie’s partner, Sean Flynn, plays at the Community College of Rhodes Island. Sean knew about the connections of Brodie with the island of Aruba (as he traveled to the island a lot during his life) and came up with the idea of starting a baseball academy there. Sean has more connections in the business area, for example with major companies and brands in the New England states.  He landed a deal to bring over 15K in baseball gear to the upcoming August clinic. He handles the day to day business side of things.

According to Brodie, the idea started off small but grew very quickly. We started getting calls from baseball companies wanting to sponsor us and coaches and players from across the United States. Each August and December we hold prospect and developmental clinics until our academy will be built in the next 4 years.

Brodie and Sean have set several goals. Their goal for these clinics is to develop the younger kids so they are ready for the transition between the field and have a chance to do something with baseball one day. Their goal for the future of their academy is to have a place where baseball players can come and practice their skill and workout at the same time. They will have a full functioning batting cage area with bullpens. The cages will be able to be pulled back for fielding work as well. There will also be a strength and conditioning weight lifting area with a PT office attached. This will be accessible to all our members to get treatment if they ever need it. Eventually, there is a plan on hosting teams from all around the world to play in Aruba against teams from Aruba as well.

For the older age group, we hold showcase style workouts and offer recruiting videos. The goal is for them to give players the exposure they deserve through the connections Brodie and Sean have so they will be seen by college or professional scouts across America and the Caribbean. Not only do we help them by holding these clinics but we also reach out to schools across America and professional scouts without connections. Not only do we just hold baseball clinics but we offer merchandise and baseball gear for a good price.

297 Baseball Academy wants players to have the ability to play at the big ACC and SEC schools or make it to being a professional. The academy has a staff of current and former baseball players, Joshua Simon who is going to play at State Fair Community College in Missouri is our strength and conditioning coach. Joshua will complete his PT degree there while playing. Ryan Huntington is our pitching coordinator. Ryan played at Grambling State University in Louisiana a Division 1 baseball program.

All of the coaches but one speak Papiamento, so expressing themselves won’t be a problem.

As written before, the 297 Academy will hold a clinic on August 10 and 11 at the Stadium Nadi Croes/ Crismo Angela in Macuarima Z/N, Santa Cruz, Aruba. The schedule for these days will be as follows:

August 10th:
12U and below from 12PM-2PM
13U and above from 3PM-5PM