The Miami baseball program needed an upgrade in facilities to compete with schools around the country.
The Canes were upgraded.
The baseball team now has a 2,800-square-foot weight room, a bullpen that is not on the actual field, and new field turf. The weight room is inside Mark Light Stadium, the home of the Miami Hurricanes baseball team. A donation from the Ruiz family (Mayra, John, Cristina, and Alex) helped to upgrade the facilities.
"I got a phone call from Mayra Ruiz, who I actually worked with both their sons who played here, said H.R. Powell, the strength and conditioning coach for Miami's baseball team. "She told me about the donation and what they planned to do with it. I lost my mind. I was ecstatic. I couldn't be more thankful for everything that they've done and it's made a huge impact on our program and our student-athletes. It's a game-changer."
The weight room has doubled in size which ultimately helps trainers work more efficiently with the student-athletes.
"When you are looking across the country and the upgrades in the facilities and the advantage it gives in recruiting. It only helps. Having a 980-square-foot facility originally, and now having something that is more than double that in 2,800 square feet. It really helps from a recruiting standpoint, but to really be more efficient with our athletes. They spend so much time here at the field practicing their sport. The last thing we want to do is keep them here extra hours training and we could really just get it done more efficiently. Two one-hour groups versus six to seven one-hour groups. It makes their day shorter allows for more recovery, allow me to be more efficient with the athletes, and spend more one-on-one time with the guys. So it make a big difference."
"At the end of the day we want to improve their performance on the field," Powell said. "Not necessarily the numbers on the bar in the weight room. My specialty is movement quality, and injury prevention and it's seemingly paying off."
The change to move to the bullpen off the actual field is a move that the pitchers definitely appreciate. Right-handed pitcher Gage Ziehl, named the starter for the season-opener, shared his thoughts on the move.
"I like having it off to the side," said Ziehl. "I think it just makes the field look better and it's just a better spot for us pitchers."
Right-handed pitcher and redshirt sophomore Alejandro Torres reiterated the same sentiments, but is really excited about the weight room.
"The field looks beautiful, the bullpen's out of this world, but me personally I'm really big on the weight room, and that improvement that we made in there is state of the art. I don't think anyone else in the country has what we have and on top of that, it's coupled by one of the best strength coaches I think around. I have all the faith in the world for H.R. and the programs he writes for the players and I think it's shown. If you just look at some of the guys and the improvements that they've made with their bodies. What he's doing in there with what he's been given, it's unbelievable."
Miami opens its 2023 season by hosting Penn State Friday night. The first pitch is set for 7:00 PM EST.
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