Baseball players find an edge at On Deck

Facility offers experience, state-of-the-art technology

Jessica Tripp/Special to ViewAndy Concepcion Jr. takes a turn at bat at On Deck Baseball Academy, 4145 N. Rancho Drive. Advertisement

When you walk into On Deck Baseball Academy, you step right onto home plate.

Owner Andy Concepcion said that the home plate painted in the entry hall is meant to show players that they can feel right at home at On Deck, his state-of-the-art baseball facility at 4145 N. Rancho Drive. His cages beckon to players from Little League all the way up to the pros, urging them to test their skills and improve.

But this facility does not have your normal run-of-the-mill batting cages. Along with its three 70-foot cages, five 55-foot cages and pitching tunnels, On Deck boasts a set of machines that cannot be found anywhere else on the West Coast, according to Concepcion -- the PX2, made by the Pro Batter Sports Co.

"No one has this type of facilities, training-wise. Those machines are the same type of machines the pros train on," Concepcion said.

The batter stands in the batting box, facing a life-size screen with a recorded pitcher winding up to throw the pitch. The batter watches the pitcher's movements, gets ready to hit and "whoosh," the ball flies out of the recorded pitcher's hand toward the batter with unerring, 98 percent accuracy. The softball Pro Batter machines are the ones used by Olympic players. They throw seven different pitches. The baseball version is used by teams like the New York Yankees and throws eight different pitches at up to 100 mph.

Along with its technical trainers, On Deck has some of the most experienced coaches in Las Vegas on hand, according to Concepcion. Hitting coach Mike Easler has worked with teams like the LA Dodgers, St. Louis Cardinals and the Boston Red Sox.

"We're trying to make this into a very beautiful, professional baseball academy," Easler said. "Baseball's going to be our business, training our passion."

Ted Concepcion, Andy Concepcion's father, will be coaching the pitchers, as well as working with visiting umpires. He has been working with local teams, as well as Las Vegas umpires, for years.

He said that the machines will allow coaches to help their charges from places other than the pitcher's mound.

"You don't need a coach to pitch," he said. "You can put the person on the screen that your team will be seeing on the field."

Andy Concepcion has been coaching his own traveling 10U club team, the Little Bronx Bombers. He said they were the inspiration for his facility.

"We used to go to another facility to train and work out, but it was so busy, we could never get a time to come in. So, I said, we're just going to come up with our own facility," he said.

His team will be using the facility, but Andy Concepcion wanted to be able to offer it to everyone, including traveling and local professionals and college students. Eric Muir has started his own recruitment program at On Deck for the purpose of helping student players get scholarships from colleges across the country.

Muir, a baseball aficionado who has a son playing for Brigham Young University, knows the importance of having kids go to college, as well as playing baseball. One of the main things that Muir has realized over the years is that the college coaches do not have time to look for good players -- the players have to come to them.

That's where Muir comes in. He will start working with the students when they are sophomores and, for $1,000, will do everything they need to get them into a good college.

"I will be with them all the way," Muir said. "They will be in a self-based program, where I will advise them and counsel them on what to send, who to send it to, what schools to send it to based on their ability or their grades."

The facility also will offer a variety of camps and clinics to help players get ready for the big leagues or just to have fun. Its first clinic, the Jaeger Sports clinic, will be held in February.

For more information, visit www.ondeckba.com.