For the past nine years, the Puerto Peñasco Youth Sports Foundation (Fundación de Jovenes Deportistas de Puerto Peñasco, A.C.) has brought local youth baseball coaches together with former Major League players and coaches for an action-packed baseball clinic focused on fundamentals and fun! The 9th Annual Major League Coaches Clinic, held last weekend across two fields just east of the baseball stadium (currently being remodeled), welcomed one of the largest group of kids to date and of course the opportunity for the aspiring beisbolistas to work on their skills. At final count, more than 140 kids participated in this year’s Major League Clinic, along with four major league coaches, including a major league pitcher, and 10 local coaches. Organizer Rick Busa proudly stated, “With these numbers, how can it not be a success?”
Left-handed pitcher Pete Hartmann, one of the energizing forces behind the Major League Coaches Clinic in recent years, adds they also hope to encourage baseball exchanges between US and Mexico that will allow participants to show off their skills, share camaraderie, and of course play ball in different cities and/or with different schools. Hartmann, who is currently head baseball coach at North Canyon High School in Phoenix, at one time was drafted by the Rangers and spent time with the Florida Marlins farm club before playing ball internationally from Taiwan to Mexico. In underscoring his enthusiasm for the clinic, he emphasized, “If we can get to one kid, we’ve done our job.” As a side note, he chuckles, he wouldn’t necessarily say no if called in as a left-hand pitcher for the Tiburones of Puerto Peñasco, particularly at the new stadium!
Hartmann’s involvement in the yearly baseball clinic in Puerto Peñasco also stems from his program “Bats for Bullets” in the U.S., which works to encourage youth to engage in sports or other recreational activities as a way to stay off the streets. Donations of sports equipment from “Bats for Bullets”, and additional donors, are also a welcome complement to the annual baseball clinic in Puerto Peñasco.
Busa detailed organizers this year wish to thank visiting coaches Pete Hartmann, Troy Pearce, J.D. Ramirez and Mitch Talbit “for donating their time to help the children of Peñasco to better their skills playing baseball” as well as local coaches “who took time of their schedules to help out to make this clinic a success.”
In addition, appreciation is extended to this year’s sponsors: Boo Bar, RockyPoint360.com, Head Out to Rocky Point, Tekila Bar, Pro Alliance Insurance, Sonoran Resorts, Terrance Corian, Leroy & Connie, the City of Puerto Peñasco, Satisfied Frog, Oceano, Municipal Sports Office, Las Palomas Resort, photographer Mark Olszewski, Max’s Restaurant, Bryan’s Sports Bar, and Delores Vargas from Learn2pitch. “Special thanks to all the parents,” adds Busa, “Without them taking their children to practice, to their games, and to our clinic, this baseball clinic would not be as successful.”
2018 will mean the 10th Anniversary of the Major League Coaches Clinic, and we hear there are some big plans in store. Organizers indicate anyone interested in helping to sponsor the event, please contact Rick Busa at 638.105.5250 rbusa1972@gmail.com Pete Hartmann can also be contacted at: petehart20@gmail.com
