Babe Ruth Jamaica targeting grassroots development

Assistant Commissioner of the Babe Ruth Jamaica League, Geli-Anne Campbell, said the organisation is aiming to increase the visibility of baseball on the island through development at the grassroots level.

Campbell believes there is a lot of potential for baseball in Jamaica yet to be unearthed at a young age.

She said the goal is to get all interested kids into programmes where they can learn the basics of the sport. As these children grow older, they will then become competitive athletes in the global world of baseball.

"We want to start them off as young as six and bring them through all the way to under-18 and then go even beyond that where they can play the minor and the major leagues," she said. "One of the primary goals right now is to engage the children from early so that when they get to under-14 and under-16, they would have the skill set to compete even more aggressively internationally."

Campbell said Jamaica's reputation of producing world-class athletes in other sports has garnered the attention of Major League Baseball (MLB) scouts.

These scouts, she said, have had their eyes on Jamaica as a potential scouting network for the next generation of players.

"The opportunities are great for kids who play baseball. They have opportunity to play in the minor and major leagues. Major League Baseball organisers have had their eyes on Jamaica for some time now because they know Jamaican athletes have great prowess.

"If we were to train and introduce our young sportsmen and women into baseball, it is only great results that will be had," she added.

Babe Ruth Jamaica currently operates on a community level but the organisation are hoping to expand into the school sporting season in the near future.

Campbell said as of now, the league has programmes in several parishes across Jamaica and also hosts practice games at Hope Gardens.

"We're still doing the groundwork and trying to set up proper programmes. We have programmes in Kingston primarily, in St Catherine, based in Portmore. We also have active programmes growing in St Elizabeth and St Thomas," she said.

"We have some fun practice games that we play in Hope Gardens as well. There are talks being had about venues where we can use to properly host these players who have an interest in the sport."