Minnesota Baseball Academy is taking a 12u Blizzard Team to Cooperstown Dreams Park August 23rd-29th. We are looking for two more players to head to New York for the best tournament in the nation. If you are interested in going, please contact us at 612.790.4700 for a tryout session.
Blizzard Player Jacob Lindgren gives back to community
Star Tribue Article: Click Here
Sun Post Article: Click Here
MBA Owner Adam Barta on WCCO Radio
Adam Barta, owner and instructor for the Minnesota Baseball Academy was a recent guest on WCCO radio on Sports to the Max. Click here to listen now!
| BLIZZARD 2008/2009! |
| Minnesota Baseball Academy, in partnership with the Minnesota Youth Athletic Services, would like to announce the 2008/2009
fall and winter Minnesota Blizzard, Team USA (13U & 14U) and the Amateur Baseball Report (ABR) tryout dates!
A full description of the program including costs, schedules and sign-ups will be up on the website next week. Please mark your calendar with the dates below! Age cut-off is May 1st, 2009 (example: If you are 12 years old now and turn 13 before May 1st, you are considered a 13u player.) |
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| 10u - 16u will play in the Gopher State Fall Baseball League with DHs September 7th - October 5th |
| 17u - 18u teams will play a MN BB Academy Fall League including a Fall Showcase and double headers every weekend through September 6th - October 4th |
Players who do not make the Blizzard Elite will be placed on a Blizzard Fall Baseball team.
Amateur Baseball Report
ALL 12u - 15u players that tryout for the Blizzard will also have a player profile and will be featured in the ABR Magazine, a publication distributed statewide in paper and online. Check out www.amateurbaseballreport.com for more info. In addition, the top 13u and 14u players out of these tryouts will have a chance to be selected for a second tryout (National Team Identification Series) to play for Team USA, a team that travels internationally. There are two NTIS events held over Labor Day weekend (8/29-8/31), where players compete for one of 24 roster spots. Twelve teams from across the country are represented. Ten are chosen from participating organizations and two by USA Baseball. (Note: This would not affect Blizzard schedules.)
Blizzard and ABR tryouts will be held at the White Bear Lake Township Fields in White Bear Lake, MN.
All potential Blizzard players will go through a 5-tool tryout where we will be grading out
| Player Camp & Games June 25th-27th, 2008 Roseville, MN Victoria & Legion Fields CLICK HERE TO REGISTER |
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Minnesota Baseball Academy would like to extend an invitation to you for our Player Camp and Games June 25th – 27th, 2008 at Roseville’s Victoria’s Fields off of County Road C and Victoria and the Legion Field off of County Road C and Dale. All players will go through skills training including: hitting, fielding, throwing, base running, game situations and more. Players will be provided with a camp jersey, daily lunches, small group instruction (6-4:1 ratio), controlled scrimmages, games, prizes, gifts, and individual trophies including a MVP, Hustle Award, Most Improved and more. Winners and players will be posted and featured on our website. This camp is more than about baseball – it’s about learning how to work as a team, good attitude, effort and how to prepare on not only how to become a better baseball player but a person! Minnesota Baseball Academy runs Minnesota’s largest fall and winter traveling elite baseball teams called the Minnesota Blizzard. The Blizzard travel and compete in Las Vegas, Florida, Arizona, Utah and more. This camp is a pre-cursor in finding the best baseball players in Minnesota. Please sign up as this is our fastest filling camp. Instructors for this camp will feature all of the instructors from Minnesota Baseball Academy and headed up by Adam Barta, owner of MBA. RSVPs are required by June 1st, 2008. Once you have filled out your registration, you’ll be automatically signed up for the camp and be contacted for confirmation. Please show up at 8am on the 25th for registration. Camp Sample Itinerary (schedule subject to change) 9:00am – 10:00am Speed Drills – Base running – Proper Throwing 10:00am – 11:30am Infield/Outfield Work – Fundamentals and positional breakdowns 11:30 – 12:00 Lunch – Guest Speaker – Whiffle Ball 12:00 – 1:15pm Skills Competition and Controlled Scrimmage 1:15pm – 2:55 Game Location: Roseville, MN (Victoria Fields and Roseville Legion – subject to change) When: June 25th – 27th 9am-3pm Ages: 10u-12u and 13u-15u (ages will be split up accordingly) Cost: $250 / player CLICK HERE TO REGISTER |
| Joe Loftus - 18u Blizzard Player Featured in Minneapolis Star Tribune THERE'S MORE TO HOLY ANGELS SENIOR THAN HOMERS - Star Tribune Holy Angels senior third baseman Joe Loftus traces his love for baseball to when he was 4 years old, playing catch with his dad on the family farm in Savage after his dad finished milking the cows. The farm has been in his family since the late 1800s, a fitting detail considering Loftus is good ol' country strong. Loftus (6-3, 205) begins the season with 22 career home runs, one more than Joe Mauer hit at Cretin-Derham Hall. Loftus, who hit nine homers last season, has his eye on the state record of 32 set by Josh Mathson of Babbitt-Embarrass-Soudan-Tower from 1999-2004. To hear Holy Angels coach Jim Page tell it, Loftus might already have the record if homers were measured in total distance. "Of the 22 he has hit, probably 17 have been at least 400 feet," Page said. "It's not 'if' when he hit one, but 'how far'. He hit one at Farmington that we estimated at 500 feet. The crowd was pretty boisterous that day, but when he hit that ball the place got dead silent." Loftus talks about the fun of hitting "bombs." However, there isn't anything about the game he doesn't enjoy. Page said when his star, who also is the Stars' best pitcher, steps on the field his face lights up. Loftus will play baseball somewhere next season. He has committed to Vanderbilt but also is expected to be selected in the first five rounds of the major league amateur draft in June. He said his college choice came down to Vanderbilt and Arizona State, where he would have joined Chaska senior pitcher Brad Hand next season. "It was a tough decision," Loftus said. "July 1 was the first day [recruiters] could start calling, and 35 teams called, throwing full rides out there. I chose Vanderbilt because of the education and its great team." Commodores third baseman Pedro Alvarez is expected to be the first pick in the June amateur draft. Loftus could be his replacement. That is, if he elects not to sign a professional contract. "I'd kind of like to be the hometown hero again, like Mauer,'' Loftus said. The deciding factor could come down to how high he goes in the draft and the amount of signing bonus he is offered. A full scholarship at Vanderbilt is valued at about $200,000. Loftus likely will be offered a signing bonus well into six figures. Loftus spent last summer traveling the United States to take part in baseball "showcases," where the nation's top 200 players worked out and scrimmaged in front of college and pro scouts. "I did quite well," he said. "That's how I got my spot at Vandy." Page said Loftus has averaged a home run every seven at-bats during his high school career. Along with that, he hits for a high average (.531 last season), plays a strong third base and runs well. "He's got the whole package, which puts him in a pretty good position," Page said. "He's just got to go out and play his game." Page considers Loftus the most talented player he has ever coached. "It's kind of going out on a limb," Page said, "but when Joe Mauer was 16 and 17 he played in the men's amateur league in St. Paul, a league I still play in. I don't remember a lot of difference at that age between him and Joe. That's a pretty scary level of comparison." |
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Adam Barta, who has been running Minnesota Baseball Academy and Minnesota Blizzard Baseball since 2003, has been working with the White Sox since the summer of 2007 assisting them with their Pre-Area Code Tryouts and putting together their “Silver & Black” games – a scouting day where the top players from the Midwest play in front of the White Sox Scouting Staff. This year, Barta will be responsible for organizing the entire Minnesota Pre-Area Code Tryouts and Silver & Black games. The Pre-Area Code Tryouts, held in Miesville on June 16th, are tryouts for the top juniors in Minnesota, where if chosen, will head to Chicago for another round of tryouts before heading out to California where the top players in the country play for a week in front of all the top scouts from around Major League Baseball. Players from Minnesota Baseball Academy who attended the Pre-Area Code showcase last year are: Joe Loftus (Vanderbilt and MN Blizzard member), Brad Hand (ASU, former MN Blizzard member), Jake Esch (Georgia Tech, MN BB Academy member), Kash Kolkowski (Nebraska/MN Blizzard member), Justin Gominsky (not committed/ MN Blizzard member), and Madison Boer (uncommitted/MN Blizzard member) Andy Johnson (Wayzata HS/MN Blizzard member), and Max Gregory (Cretin-Derham Hall HS)/MN Blizzard Member) to name a few. Information will be up very soon on the Pre-Area Code Showcase. Please check back on the 'Showcase' link of our website. |
| 14U Blizzard Elite win Rocky Mountain School of Baseball National Championship! 16Us and 18Us bring home 3rd Place. |
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The 13U, 14U, 15U, 16U, 17U and 18U Blizzard all competed in the Rocky Mountain School of Baseball National Championship held in February in St. George, Utah. Congratulations to the 14U's who won the Championship and to the 16 and 18U's for taking home third place. A recap of each teams tournament can be found by clicking on the following...
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 14U Tournament Champs |
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2008 Blizzard Youth Elite - Download Brochure!
Elite Tournament Dates Set
Minnesota Baseball Academy will be holding tryouts November 23rd – 25th, 2007 at Competitive Edge Arena in Rogers for Blizzard Youth Elite teams ages 11u and 12u. We will hold tryouts for our 9u and 10u teams in March (tryouts TBA).
The 11u and 12u age groups will compete in three tournaments while our 9u and 10u age groups will compete in the 2nd and 3rd tournaments. Our 13u and 14u teams are currently assembled and we will not be holding a tryout for these two age groups.
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Tournament 1
Top Choice Baseball Tournament
Date: March 1st & 2nd
Ages: 11u & 12u
Location: Phoenix, AZ
www.topchoicebaseball.com
Tournament 2
NIT Kick-OFF Classic
Date: April 18th – 20th
Ages: 9u – 14u
Location: Des Moines, IA
www.centraliowasports.com
Tournament 3
Memorial Day Super NIT
Date: May 23rd – 25th
Ages: 9u – 14u
Location: Kansas City
www.kcsports.org
All details of this program will be set within the next couple weeks and will be posted on the Blizzard portion of our website. In the meantime, many of the features of this program will mirror our Varsity Blizzard Elite program. Please feel free to read up about our current teams and where they are headed this winter!