SORIA VISITS BASEBALL ACADEMY IN OAXACA

Kansas City Royals closer Joakim Soria continued his offseason visit to his homeland with a stop at the Alfredo Harp Helu Baseball Academy in San Bartolo Coyotepec, Oaxaca, where he toured the facilities built by and named after the owner of the Mexico City Diablos Rojos (pictured with Soria at the academy) and spoke to a number of prospects on site.

Soria, who was also given Mexico’s National Sports Award for 2010 last month following another address to prospects at the country’s other top baseball academy near Monterrey, once again told the young ballplayers in Oaxaca about the importance of hard work, quoting a priest who spoke in Mexico City’s Foro Sol dugout while Soria was pitching for the Diablos Rojos: “To be someone who triumphs in life you need three things: Heart, mind and the desire to do what you propose. If you apply these fundamentals in any activity, you will be ‘someone’ in life.”

The 26-year-old right-hander from Monclova surprised his audience when asked who has provided his greatest motivation. Rather than name another athlete, he chose an uncle who “despite suffering a disability at work for Altos Hornos de Mexico (a steel mining company), never gave up. He lost both arms, yet learned to write with his feet and today is a leading systems engineer.”

GROUND BROKEN ON BASEBALL ACADEMY IN OAXACA

A new baseball academy is being constructed in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca. Organizers behind the Alfredo Harp Helu Academy in San Bartolo Coyotepec had a groundbreaking ceremony last month.

The academy will take up about five acres of land and include two full-sized baseball fields, an infield area, three batting cages and six roofed bullpens (with a central tower installed at the top of one of the two full fields). The complex will also include a kitchen and dining room, a multipurpose room, a medical center for therapy and rehabilitation, a dressing room with showers, a gymnasium, laundry facilities, a library with computers and a TV/reading area, all within an 18,000-square foot building.

Alfredo Harp Helu is the 65-year-old former owner of Banamex, the largest bank in Latin America. The Mexico City-born Harp is worth approximately US$1.8 billion, and owns all or part of the Mexico City Diablos Rojos and Oaxaca Guerreros. At the groundbreaking ceremony, Harp told those gathered, “Today, a dream comes true for us, especially for many young talents who want to dedicate their lives to the profession of a ballplayer.”

The academy is expected to open in late 2010.