Academy Notebook: 12U New Orleans Mardi Gras Classic; Texas Rangers Youth Academy furthers initiatives to increase Black participation in baseball & softball; Rangers Youth Academy athletes and staff reflect during Black History Month

Texas Rangers Youth Academy opens pool play at 12U New Orleans Mardi Gras Classic

Pool play at the 12U New Orleans Mardi Gras Classic, previously referred to as the Andre Dawson 12U Classic, began today, where the Texas Rangers Youth Academy opened the tournament 1-1.

The Rangers, joined in the West pool by the Chicago White Sox ACE Black and the Houston Astros Youth Academy, played games at 8 a.m. and noon, securing a spot in tomorrow’s West pool championship game at 10 a.m.

In the opening game against the Chicago ACE Black, the Rangers Youth Academy fell short, 6-4, after relinquishing its narrow lead in the top of the fourth inning and coming up scoreless in its final two at-bats. Top performers at the plate included Mason Berry, who went 2-for-3 with a two-run homer, and Michael Stevenson, who finished the game 1-for-1 with a double and a pair of walks.

The Rangers next faced off against the Astros Youth Academy, where they secured an 11-5 victory. Top performers included Rangers winning pitcher Oscar Armendariz, who also went 1-for-2 at the plate, and Hendrix Pope, who led the team on offense going 2-for-2 with a double and two runs scored.

Tomorrow’s West pool championship will see a rematch between the No. 2 seed Rangers and No. 1 seed Chicago ACE Black. The winner from this matchup will advance to Sunday’s championship game, where the best from the West will face off against eventual East pool winner, Chicago ACE White or NOLA YA, at Wesley Barrow Stadium at the New Orleans Youth Academy.

The 12U youth tournament is an ancillary event to Major League Baseball’s Andre Dawson Classic, a round-robin collegiate tournament established in 2008 to highlight baseball programs at Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

Participating in this year’s Andre Dawson Classic, which will be attended by Mardi Gras Classic youth tournament participants, are Alabama A&M, Alabama State, Florida A&M, Grambling State, Jackson State, Prairie View A&M, Southern University and the non-HBCU University of New Orleans, which acts as tournament co-host.

Prior to this evening’s 7 p.m. game between Alabama State and Grambling State, available on MLB Network, Texas Rangers Youth Academy athlete Aaliyah Marquez will participate in the pre-game first pitch ceremony alongside one representative from each youth team.

Texas Rangers Youth Academy furthers MLB’s initiatives to increase Black participation in baseball and softball

Since opening its doors in December 2017, the Texas Rangers Youth Academy has become a hub for changing the future of Black participation in baseball and softball.

The four-acre complex, located in the heart of West Dallas, is one of eight Major League Baseball Urban Youth Academies across the U.S., specifically designed to grow the games of baseball and softball while cultivating diversity and making meaningful contributions to underserved communities.

With compounding factors, like equipment costs, league play and registration fees, field shortages and overall low interest, baseball and softball have become unplayable in some communities, directly affecting Black participation.

Since reaching its peak in 1991, Black participation in Major League Baseball continues to decline.

According to the 2022 MLB Racial and Gender Report Card, conducted by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida, American-born Black players accounted for just 7.2% of those on opening day rosters.

Beyond the big leagues, participation at the collegiate level is just as low, with Black representation in NCAA Division I baseball at 3.9% and NCAA Division I softball at 4.8%, as noted in the 2021 College Sports Racial and Gender Report Card.

These staggering discrepancies in participation compared to non-Black athletes have driven the League and others, including the Texas Rangers Youth Academy, to rewrite the future.

“One of the things that we hear from players and from parents is that the Academy allows kids to play with other kids that look like them,” said Juan Leonel Gárciga, Senior Director of Youth Academy & Baseball Development.

“That's very different than a lot of the higher-level programs...There is a difference in comfort level when you walk in and someone's speaking the same first language as you, or people are listening to the same music or having the same life experiences and I think for these athletes, there's a comfort here that allows them to let their natural gifts and abilities shine.”

Destan Burks, who Gárciga describes as one of the best softball players at the Rangers Youth Academy, joined the Rangers Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI) League last summer and never looked back.

“Playing at the Texas Rangers Youth Academy allows me to play the game that I love with people who look like me and learn from Black athletes in the baseball and softball community,” said Burks, a Red Oak High School sophomore.

Burks, who widely attributes the lack of Black participation to the “stigma that baseball and softball are thinking sports" not everyone can play, is grateful for the exposure the Texas Rangers Youth Academy brings and the high-level instruction that will propel her to the collegiate level.

Among the various programs offered at the Texas Rangers Youth Academy, education and developing Major League citizens has just as much emphasis as on-field development. For many of these athletes, baseball and softball can create a natural path to higher education opportunities and continued success on the diamond.

Major League Baseball continues to expand opportunities for underserved athletes to perform for college scouts and coaches through MLB Develops events like the Breakthrough Series, Dream Series and Hank Aaron Invitational.

Chris Marcellus, MLB Develops Dream Series alum and current Grambling State University catcher, is just one example of an athlete whose talent, hard work and dedication may have been undervalued or missed entirely had he not been part of the Rangers Youth Academy family.

“It’s important to grow [Black participation] in order to show another route in life that could lead kids in the right direction to be successful not only as an athlete but as a person,” said Marcellus. “The Academy does a great job reaching the audience of Black kids through camps, events, and the media they provide in order to showcase what baseball and softball can do for them.”

Marcellus is among the 81 Texas Rangers Youth Academy athletes that have committed to playing collegiate ball in the Academy’s five-year history, inspiring young athletes to follow like 2022 Jr. Home Run Derby National Champion Braylon Hubbard.

Hubbard, a Kennedy Middle School student, is inspired by the opportunity to be a difference maker and already feels a sense of responsibility to help grow the game.

“I still have a lot of work to do on getting other African American or Black kids to come here and work their butts off to get to where they want to go,” said Hubbard. “It’s important because our culture can be cultivated and grown around baseball. I love hearing about people who have broken the color barrier, like Jackie Robinson. It's just inspiring, and I'm honored to be a part of this organization.”

Opportunities to train with Major Leaguer Taylor Hearn at the Youth Academy has Hubbard ready to reach the big stage himself, following in the footsteps of some of his baseball heroes, like Robinson, Ozzie Smith, Hank Aaron and Willie Mays.

Reaching the pros in both softball and baseball presents another set of challenges for Black ballplayers, but after Major League Baseball’s historic 2022 draft class, with four of the first five picks being American-born Black players, the opportunity is more reachable than ever.

“Seeing yourself in the people that are having that success, it becomes more real,” said Gárciga. “You don't feel like you have to be this trailblazer and overcome all these obstacles to get there. Once you see people who look like you have that success, it becomes more normalized that they can play ball just like everybody else.”

The tools to achieve that success are exactly what the Texas Rangers Youth Academy is offering the next generation of Black baseball and softball stars across DFW.

“There's always times where as people of color we go through different obstacles, especially in the game of baseball because there's not many of us in it,” said Dash Johnson, Manager of Youth Academy Baseball & Softball Operations. “I love coaching young black athletes in this sport because we are the minority, but it's clear that we have the ability to succeed at every level...with MLB laying the groundwork, within the next five to 10 years, I do believe that the percentage of blacks in baseball and softball will clearly increase.”

In order to make long-lasting change, work at the Texas Rangers Youth Academy never stops and expands well beyond one month each year. Through partnerships with MLB, The Players Alliance, USA Baseball, USA Softball and some of the best athletes and coaches in the sport, the Texas Rangers Youth Academy is a hub for creating opportunities for Black youth, giving everyone a fair shot to play the game they love.

Texas Rangers Youth Academy athletes and staff reflect during Black History