Community News

The top high school all-star baseball players from the tristate area will have the honor of playing on the brand new field at the recently-opened Phillies MLB Urban Youth Academy in FDR Park during the 30^th annual Phillies Carpenter Cup Classic presented by GDF Suez. This 15-game tournament will be held Monday, June 15 until Tuesday, June 23, 2015, with the semi-finals and championship games played at Citizens Bank Park.

“This is the big leagues for our area’s youth,” said Jon Joaquin, Director, Youth Baseball Development, The Phillies. “Starting on Monday, June 15 with the Phillies Carpenter Cup, talented young players will get to play ball on this brand new field of dreams through the Phillies MLB Urban Youth Academy. Their smiles when they step onto this grass will say it all.”

The new field at the Phillies MLB Urban Youth Academy is equipped with bleacher seating for 450 spectators, dugouts, a scoreboard and a press box. In addition to the new field, participants will compete on the existing Ashburn Field at FDR Park, which is also part of the Academy. The Phillies MLB Urban Youth Academy fields are maintained by The Phillies groundskeepers. The Academy officially opened on Friday, June 4, during a public ceremony with Phillies RBI All-Stars being the first to line up and play ball on the field during a special workout.

Phillies Carpenter Cup participants will also have the chance to showcase their skills in front of major league scouts and college coaches, who will be in attendance. The Phillies Carpenter Cup Classic presented by GDF Suez is recognized nationally as one of the finest baseball tournaments for high school students and has been a catalyst for many players to receive scholarships and admission to some of the country's finest universities. Additionally, many Carpenter Cup Classic participants have gone on to big league careers including current Phillies broadcaster Ben Davis, Mike Piazza, Mike Koplove, David Miller and Bobby Higginson.

Games at both FDR Park and Citizens Bank Park are open to the public.

ABOUT THE PHILLIES MLB URBAN YOUTH ACADEMY

The Phillies MLB Urban Youth Academy will be the only existing multi-site Urban Youth Academy, with both outdoor and indoor facilities to provide free, year-round instruction to the more than 8,000 Phillies Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI) players in Philadelphia. The overall project is supported by MLB, the Phillies, the Baseball Tomorrow Fund (BTF), the City of Philadelphia and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Read more on the Phillies MLB Urban Youth Academy here.