The Major League Baseball Urban Youth Academy is a youth baseball academy located in Compton, California providing free baseball and softball instruction to Southern California youth, ages 8–17.
Encompassing 10 acres (40,000 m2) on the campus of Compton Community College, the MLB Urban Youth Baseball Academy features state-of-the-art facilities including a show field; complete with scoreboard, a grandstand that seats nearly 200 fans, dugouts and lights; as well as an auxiliary field; softball field; youth field; and a 12,000-square-foot (1,100 m2) clubhouse consisting of a weight room, locker room, and other training facilities. The complex also features batting cages and pitching mounds.
The Academy operates on a year-round basis under the leadership of former Anaheim Angel Darrell Miller. An after-school program, week-long clinics accommodating approximately 200 youth per day is held, as well as month-long clinics. Over the course of the first year of operation, the Academy expects to offer the free program to a minimum of 2,500 youth.
Plans will continue on opening the leagues second Urban Youth Academy in Hialeah, Florida outside of Miami, also to coincide with the Florida Marlins new MLB Stadium in Little Havana. A third academy in Houston, Texas opened in April 2010.
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