The Texas Rangers today announced that Juan Leonel Garciga has been appointed to the club's new position of Director, Youth Academy and Youth Baseball/Softball Programs.
Garciga, who started with the team today, will oversee the Rangers youth camps and clinics programs as well as the club's Junior and Senior RBI efforts in Arlington, Dallas, Fort Worth, and Lancaster. He will also oversee and direct the programming at the Texas Rangers MLB Youth Academy at Mercy Street Sports Complex presented by Toyota in West Dallas.
"Juan will be a great asset to the Rangers as we grow and expand our youth baseball and softball programs and strive to make our Youth Academy the best in Major League Baseball," said Karin Morris, Executive Director of the Texas Rangers Baseball Foundation and Vice President of Community Outreach for the club. "He has extensive experience in developing and operating a successful program in Miami and we are excited that he has accepted this opportunity in Texas."
Garciga joins the Rangers organization after spending the previous 11 seasons with the Miami Marlins, where he most recently served as the Manager of Community Outreach and Player Relations after being promoted to that position in November 2012. In that role, he oversaw the Marlins Youth Baseball and Softball Program, including youth clinics and Play Ball. He also served as the director of the Marlins RBI League, which won two RBI World Series Championships (2014 and '15) and four RBI Southeast Regional Championships (2013-15) under his watch.
An alumnus of the Marlins RBI program, Garciga is a graduate of Florida State University and earned his Master of Science in Sport Management from the University of Miami in 2013.
The Texas Rangers MLB Youth Academy at Mercy Street Sports Complex presented by Toyota, which held its official ribbon-cutting in December after two years of construction, includes five fields (Oates Field presented by Papa John's, the Clayton Kershaw Challenge Field, Josh "Hambone" Hamilton Field, Field of Dreams, and the Mimi's T-Ball Field) and the Globe Life Training Center, an indoor facility which houses Adrian Beltre Field, which is a major league size infield; the Ian Desmond training room; Origin Bank Conference Room, four classrooms supported by the Hamels Foundation; weight room facilities, Academy staff offices, and a concession stand.
The Texas Rangers MLB Youth Academy is available to children throughout North Texas, especially the more than 9,000 kids who live within the West Dallas neighborhood and youth from the greater Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex area. In addition to providing year-round baseball and softball instruction and play, including hosting tournaments, coaching clinics and skills camps, the Academy will provide youth with access to tutoring programs, college prep classes, college and career fairs, financial literacy and internship programs, courses teaching math through the use of baseball statistics, and MLB industry alternative career workshops.
Youth also have opportunities to be involved in drug resistance and gang-prevention programs and healthy lifestyle classes. Additionally, all Academy members and other community youth benefit from Academy facilities and programs through baseball vocational programming, such as umpiring seminars, athletic field management, scouting and player development, sports information training, and athletic sports training. Last week, the Rangers and Buckner International announced a partnership to bring educational and family coaching programming to the facility.
The operations of the Academy are covered entirely by the Texas Rangers Baseball Foundation, which also will provide equipment, supplies, utilities and other operating costs.
For more information Rangers' youth programs and the Texas Rangers MLB Youth Academy at Mercy Street Sports Complex presented by Toyota, go to texasrangers.com.