GONZALEZ FAMILY PLANNING THREE ACADEMIES IN SINALOA

The family of MLB players Adrian and Edgar Gonzalez has released some details on three planned sports academies they would build and operate in the Mexican state of Sinaloa.

David Gonzalez, father of both players and himself a former member of Mexico’s national amateur team during his own playing days, told Fernando Ballasteros of Puro Beisbol that “High Performance Academies” are slated for Mexican Pacific League cities Mazatlan, Culiacan and Los Mochis. The facilities would be similar to the Gonzalez Sports Academy the family owns near San Diego.

As with the California facility, the Mexican academies will train aspiring athletes in basketball and volleyball as well as baseball. The elder Gonzalez says he’s already received support from Sinaloa governor Mario Lopez Valdez, and that ground has already been broken in Culiacan with a targeted opening later this year.

One party less than enthused about the project is the Mexican League, which operates similar academies near Monterrey and Oaxaca. While typically LMB teams keep 75 percent of the money any Mexican-born player get from signing with Major League teams (even those who, like Pirates prospect Luis Heredia, have never played an inning in the Liga) in what amounts to a monopoly of domestic players, the Gonzalez academies would keep only 30 percent of the proceeds. David Gonzalez is undaunted by LMB anger over potential competition for young Mexican talent: “We are happy to support the players and to recover the money we’ve spent will be enough.”