Why do we train in the Dominican Republic?
Quite simply, the Dominican Republic is the best place in the world to train a baseball player. It is almost impossible to describe how much the Dominican Republic can help in the development of a player, although many writers and trainers have written many articles about it. Dominican baseball players are making a big name for themselves in the MLB and the value of their training system is now being touted as the best in the world.
To be certain, what happens here for baseball players can not be replicated in the United States. Yes, we can export the drills and regimens but it does not come remotely close to delivering the entire life changing experience of living in a baseball player development environment 24 hours a day.
Major League Baseball was the first to discover this as they have abandoned all other countries as their primary training ground.
All 30 MLB teams have set up shop in the DR with their developmental academies. MLB has invested over 240 million dollars in the last few years cementing their commitment to the Dominican Republic as their home for training players.
College baseball has followed suit with Vanderbilt, Louisville, Indiana, Notre Dame, Ball State, Elon and many other programs traveling there to allow their players and coaches to experience the benefits of the Dominican game.
If you follow MLB baseball, you will notice quickly that the many of the games superstars are from the Latin American countries with the DR leading the way with the most players. It is not uncommon to see a major league infield composed of a first baseman from Cuba, the shortstop and third baseman from the Dominican Republic and the second baseman from Puerto Rico or Venezuela. Meanwhile the closer coming in from the pen is Dominican.
This is not a fluke, but rather a peek at the future of baseball. The percentage of International players increases every year and the Dominicans are dominating at this transformation of our national pastime. The reasons are many.
Economics, culture, competition, fields, training routines, playing styles, coaching expertise, style of play, and the daily focus and intensity to improve are all vastly different.
For example: over 93% of the coaches in the USA baseball system never played college or professional baseball while in the DR, that is a pre-requisite if you want to be a volunteer coach. There are virtually no amateur coaches here. That is not a small difference.
As Americans we tend to think that the center of the baseball world is in the United States, but for those of us who have gone and seen, we know that the heartbeat of the MLB is in the Dominican Republic.
Come train with us soon and see for your self. You will love it!