Academy Notebook: Ana Gonzalez wins Breakthrough Series MVP Award; Future Stars Series Dallas Super Regional

Ana Gonzalez named Breakthrough Series MVP

Major League Baseball announced on its MLB Network Playball broadcast last Saturday that Texas Rangers Youth Academy athlete and Midlothian High School student, Ana Gonzalez, was named the MLB Develops Most Valuable Player at the Softball Breakthrough Series.

Gonzalez attended the Breakthrough Series in Oklahoma City from Aug. 25-28 alongside her Texas Rangers Youth Academy teammates Olivia Veiza, Jazmin Garcia, Miranda Castaneda and Gio Frias. The girls spent three days training and learning from an elite coaching staff consisting of U.S. Olympians, former National Team members and National Team coaches.

As voted on by the Breakthrough Series coaching staff, Gonzalez was named the Most Valuable Player out of dozens of participating athletes from across the country selected to attend the invitation-only series. Among those who unanimously voted to name Gonzalez MVP, were softball legends and Breakthrough Series coaches Jennie Finch, Lauren Chamberlain and Amber Flores, who were incredibly impressed by her on-field performance.

"This award doesn’t come as a shock to us," said Jesse Malone, manager of Academy outreach and education programs. "Ana is hard working and passionate on and off the field. In 2021 she was the youngest player on the RBI Regional Softball team, who forced her way into the starting lineup due to the hard work she puts in and she has only grown since then.

"She is the type of player who stays late after practice for more swings or ground balls and has a positive personality that only encourages her teammates. We’re proud of all her accomplishments, but we also know that this is just the beginning and cannot wait to see what she does in the future."

Gonzalez will be recognized as the Softball Breakthrough Series Most Valuable Player at Game 2 of the MLB World Series in October.

New Balance Future Stars Series Super Regional Tournament

This weekend, the Texas Rangers Youth Academy will be one of two host sites for the New Balance Future Stars Series Dallas Super Regional Tournament.

The two-day tournament will bring together some of DFW’s top baseball teams to compete at the Rangers Youth Academy and Richland College fields. Both fields will host a full slate of games Saturday and Sunday, beginning at 8 a.m. and concluding around 9 p.m.

The Texas Rangers Youth Academy will have teams competing in both the upperclassmen and underclassmen divisions of the tournament and will play a combined eight games this weekend.

Four Texas Rangers Youth Academy athletes win Pitch, Hit & Run Team Championship

Last weekend, on Sept. 4, the Texas Rangers Youth Academy hosted the Pitch, Hit & Run (PHR) Southern Regional Team Championship at Globe Life Field.

Eight Rangers Youth Academy athletes competed in the event, which featured top competitors from local Pitch, Hit & Run competitions across the region, including Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Colorado and New Mexico.

Academy athletes Kayla Clemmons, Luciano Lopez, Julie Gonzalez and Eden Hollingsworth each won their age divisions and took home the title of 2022 Pitch, Hit & Run Team Champions.

Participants were scored in three categories and awarded point values based on their ability to throw strikes, hit long balls and run from base to base.

Clemmons won the 14U softball division with a score of 1130 points, Lopez and Gonzalez swept the 12U baseball and softball divisions with 1195 and 1110 points, respectively, and in the 8U softball division, Hollingsworth finished first with 600 points.

The Southern Regional Team Championship winners' scores will be compared to Pitch, Hit & Run Team Champions across the league, with the best overall advancing to the 2022 PHR finals at Game 2 of the MLB World Series.

Equipment distribution recap

The Texas Rangers Youth Academy held its annual equipment distribution earlier this week Wednesday, Sept. 7. More than 150 Youth Academy families attended the event on Beltré Field to claim new and gently used gear as their own.

The Academy supplied athletes with a variety of equipment, including cleats, gloves, bats, batting gloves, catcher's gear, bat bags, buckets of balls, water bottles and clothing like shirts, pants, belts, socks and more.