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Facility of Dreams
Baseball lover unveils new Hitters Training Academy
By Michael Burke
Journal Times
CALEDONIA — Every few seconds, an explosive “CRACK!” reverberates through the air. Each one is the satisfying thwack of a baseball meeting a rapidly moving bat.
Those sounds, of young baseball players honing their skills, provide the soundtrack at Hitters Baseball Academy, the new indoor baseball training facility here. They are music to R.J. Fergus’ ears and proof that he has achieved his dream, as he is fond of saying.
Hitters Baseball Academy, 4736 6 Mile Road, opens today. Wednesday evening various young players, minor-leaguers and coaches were there to give the 18,000-square-foot venue a tryout.
Franklin native Mike Goetz, 24, a Pittsburgh Pirates minor leaguer and hitting instructor at Hitters Baseball Academy, was asked about the academy.
In one batting tunnel at Hitters Academy, Milwaukee Brewers bullpen catcher and Racine native Marcus Hanel tossed baseballs underhand to two young players. Taking turns at bat were Luke Mason, a St. Catherine’s High School sophomore; and John Capasso, 2008’s Racine County High School Player of the Year from Horlick High School.
“All this works on your swing plane, timing, rhythm,” Fergus said as they took their swings.
“This (academy) is as good as anything you’ll see on a big-league level,” he said. “This is a big-league facility. A lot of work is going to be done here.”
From hobby to business
Fergus, 48, of Racine has long been involved with baseball, and once played for Park High School. Now, he’s turned his passion into a business.
The new Hitters Baseball Academy, he says, cost him about $200,000.
“That’s it, my life’s savings right there,” said Fergus, an industrial machinery mover by day. He hopes it can start turning a profit — and provide him a full-time job — within of five years.
“I did it because I love the game of baseball, and for the kids in the area. And I hope down the line we can make some money.”
Fergus started the academy’s predecessor, the nonprofit Racine Hitters Baseball Club, about 15 years ago in Milwaukee. He says it was designed to help young players earn college baseball scholarships, and possibly jump onto the Major League Baseball ladder.
He proudly claims the aggregate scholarships of those who trained in his program, plus money earned from pro baseball signings, exceed $10 million.
The old baseball club, Fergus said, started with one batting cage in an old factory building.
After four years he moved to another former manufacturing building at 1312 N. Memorial Drive in Racine, where the club dwelled for the past 10 years.
That site had two batting cages. Because of limited space, Fergus says, he turned away 60 players last winter.
That club is where Ross McCoy, now 24, came to practice hitting in high school. McCoy is now the academy’s general manager. He also plays independent professional baseball as an outfielder for the Frontier League’s Rockford Riverhawks.
Even in the club’s previous, more primitive form, McCoy said he would drive from Menomonee Falls to Racine three times weekly to work out. He says the new, larger and better academy will draw serious young players from throughout the area.
“You can’t find anywhere to hit in the winter,” McCoy said. “It’s very, very limited.”
The workouts
Fergus saw a brighter future for his baseball club when he laid eyes on the former Gallo Manufacturing plant. It lay vacant, an easy baseball lob from the Highway 31-6 Mile Road intersection. He leased it, with an option to buy, and Hitters Baseball Academy was incubated.
It has nine batting cages, or tunnels, for live pitching and three with pitching machines. The nets can also be drawn back to create one larger practice space, 60 by 144 feet.
That way, Fergus said, players can have infield practice, outfielders can make throws, catchers can make throws to second base, and so on. “Basically, you can play live baseball without running bases.”
The academy offers various packages, but Fergus said most players will come in small groups to share a batting cage. After taking turns in the cage for one hour, they’ll spend a second hour training with Chris Joyner, owner of Performance Unlimited.
Joyner is also the Brewers’ head strength and conditioning specialist. His services, and the weight room inside the academy, will come as a package.
“Very few things,” Fergus said, “will cost more than $10 an hour.” The main class, for example, costs $900 and provides 120 hours of training — that’s $7.50 per hour.
Hitters Baseball Academy is a bit of a misnomer, as it’s not just for batters. There are two pitching mounds and targets. Running lessons are taught by Gary and Andrew Paulauskas, the latter a 19-year-old pitcher with the Florida Marlins organization.
Fergus is already thinking beyond his new academy. He talks about starting a second one in Madison someday.
There’s also room, he said, to build a dome-covered baseball field just behind the academy, which he’d love to do.
Call it another one of his big-league dreams.
If You Go
WHAT: Hitters Baseball Academy
WHERE: 4736 6 Mile Road
HOURS: 3-9 p.m. Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday
PHONE: (262) 456-1423
ONLINE: http://hittersbaseballacademy.org
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