READING, Pa. – Inside the national training facility EL1 Sports in Reading, the next generation of baseball talent is putting in the work. For many players, this place has become much more than a spot to develop their skills.
“Clint (Fernandez) and Rich (Delucia) are like father figures to me. I mean, I can go to them with whatever, baseball or not,” said Daniel Boone junior Ian Jacob. “They teach you how to deal with the tough parts of the game and they guide you through that.”
Delucia pitched for 10 seasons in major league baseball and finished fifth in Rookie of the Year voting for the Mariners in 1991. A Wyomissing graduate, he turned to baseball instruction shortly after his professional career ended.
“We pretty much got everybody that wanted to play baseball a place to play in college,” Delucia said.
Jacob, 17, throws 92 miles per hour and turned to El1 at 11 years old after losing his father at a young age.
Another EL1 prospect on everyone’s radar is Daniel Boone sophomore Greyson Bell who has been working out at EL1 for more than five years and is now one of the top pitching prospects in the country.
“It gives you confidence and it gives you the sense that someone actually believes in you and that they’re going to do anything that they can to help you get better,” Bell said.
The community at EL1 also stepped up to support Governor Mifflin’s Victor Aponte, a survivor of pediatric cancer, by raising thirty thousand dollars to help during treatment. The sophomore says the atmosphere inside the facility motivates him to work hard every day.