“To help Alaskan baseball players realize their potential by providing professional instruction and the opportunity for individual development by means of athletic competition.”
Each year the Alaska Baseball Academy selects the top High School baseball players from around the state of Alaska to participate in one of the largest and most prestigious showcase events in the nation. The Arizona Senior Fall Classic held each October has a tremendous following and last year 477 college coaches and recruiters from 243 schools attended the event. The fall classic is set up to maximize the player’s exposure to both the professional scout and the college recruiter.
One testimonial from an NCAA Division 1 coach states: “The AZ Fall Classic is one of the most beneficial tournaments we attend. The location and facilities are fantastic for college coaches and professional scouts.”
The 2019 Alaska Baseball Academy team this year is young but talented. We have a strong group of seniors and several up and coming juniors. The best part of having a young squad is all the returning players the following year and we’ll have plenty next fall. The 2019 season and year has been a tough one for our Sockeyes family losing some family members to cancer and a tragic accident. Life is much larger than the piece that fits between foul lines and often we must be reminded that although we all love this game it is exactly that, a game. We strive to improve in order to reach as high as possible in our baseball careers but we must be certain to remember that our families come first. We never know when we will be seeing someone for the last time so it is extremely important to make sure they know how we feel about them each and every day.
All of our 2018 seniors received an offer to play college baseball! All but one is taking on that challenge and the only player who is not took an incredible academic offer so he’s set too. As of now we have had 173 alumni get the opportunity to play college baseball. That is impressive for any team and extremely impressive for a squad from the 49th state. Oh, by the way that is not counting the 9 alumni we have had taken in the MLB Amateur Draft in our 16 years of existence.
The Senior Fall Classic showcase we attend has more top end high school prospects than any baseball gathering west of the Mississippi. Typically, there are close to 500 college coaches and recruiters in attendance, along with multiple scouts from all 30 MLB clubs. Participating in this showcase is always a fantastic opportunity for our Alaskan players to get unbelievable exposure.
Our Alaska Baseball Academy Junior Sockeyes teams also had fantastic seasons. We had 5 youth teams compete this summer in 4 tournaments. Of the 11 divisions entered Sockeyes won 7 championship trophies. Not a bad percentage. We will have 7 ABA & ABA Sockeyes teams traveling to AZ this fall. We have an 11U, a 13U, 2 14Us, a 15U a Sophomore team and a Senior team. Our organization has done something a little out-of-the ordinary, we’ve grown and still improved.
God bless all of you and remember the main reason we play this great game is to HAVE FUN!
Go Sockeyes!
