A new era has begun for Kingsmen Baseball. Two weeks ago, the inaugural Kingsmen Baseball Academy roster of elite high school prospects descended on Gastonia, North Carolina, where they began training, growing, and preparing for a season designed to ready them for the next level of baseball.
Kingsmen Baseball has long existed as a summer collegiate team, offering college stars a chance to come and play during the offseason. For Kingsmen founder and head coach Joe Hudak, the summer team was never the full plan.
“I’ve always had a desire to do something more than the summer team,” Hudak said. “When I left [The Fellowship of Christian Athletes] to start Kingsmen Baseball, the idea was to eventually expand the ministry.”
Expand they have. The organization has welcomed 31 players from 11 states, along with two cities in Canada. With less than a couple weeks until games begin, the players and staff are taking this time to get to know one another and bond as a collective group.
With so many moving parts and personnel at an all-time high, it’s understandable that getting a project like this off the ground has been a difficult challenge. It certainly wasn’t straightforward.
“The primary challenge initially was the location,” Coach Hudak explained. We tried starting it at Shipyard Park in Charleston, SC. It was a great facility in a great city. I thought it would be a slam dunk.”
In the end, logistical complications prevented Shipyard Park from becoming the home of the Academy. The difficulty of renting a facility, rather than having his own, was a challenge for Coach Hudak and his vision coming to life.
“They say if you want to make God laugh, just tell him your plans,” Coach Hudak continued. “I continue to pray that God will provide us with our own field. It would allow us to really expand our ministry.”
So where is home for Kingsmen Baseball Academy today? Beautiful CaroMont Health Park in Gastonia, North Carolina, just across the border from South Carolina. The team is based no more than an hour from Rock Hill, the home of the collegiate team.
Home to the Atlantic League’s Gastonia Ghost Peppers, CaroMont Health Park is a state-of-the-art facility that offers a perfect ballpark environment on gamedays.
“CaroMont is an absolutely beautiful park to call home,” said Pitching Coach Nick Osborne. “Along with our indoor facility, we’ve been provided with all the space and equipment that any high school player could imagine.”
Excitement is brewing around Kingsmen Baseball, and early signs have been great from the players and coaches.
“The first two weeks have been fantastic,” Coach Hudak stated. “We have a great group of hard-working guys who really want to learn the game and get better.”
When Kingsmen Baseball brings in collegiate talent for the summer, it’s almost as if they’re “renting” them. A short span of time to work with the players and advise them, but maybe not quite coach them. At least, not to the level that Coach Hudak and Co. will have with the Academy roster.
“I think there are two significant differences between the college and academy guys,” Hudak described. “The first is the level of coaching they’ve had. The academy guys are like a box of chocolates. You really don’t know what they’ve been taught.”
“The second big difference is that we have the academy guys for the whole year,” he continued. “They are actually ‘our’ players. We have a longer time to work with them and develop relationships with them.”
Despite the differences from the collegiate mission, Coach Hudak and his staff want to instill the same values in this new group.
“We want to use the great game of baseball to help our guys grow in their personal relationship to Christ, become the best baseball players they can be, and develop into men of character and integrity,” Coach Joe Hudak explained.
Associate Head Coach Preston Hudak added, “We want to teach our guys how to have accountability in their lives as young men!”
The Kingsmen Baseball Academy is so new, so young in its life. But the future ahead is bright and the journey is just beginning.
