The University of Maryland athletic department broke ground on the new Stanley Bobb Baseball Player Development Center Wednesday.
The new 8,500-square-foot facility will stand atop the previous facility where the Terps practice, adjacent to Bob “Turtle” Smith Stadium and Varsity Team House. The space will have designated climate-controlled areas for pitchers and hitters to practice, with technology to utilize improved analytics.
The single-level building is expected to be completed by the start of next season, according to head coach Matt Swope.
“This new Stanley Bobb player development center will be pivotal to our players’ success and we couldn’t be more thankful and grateful,” Swope said at Wednesday’s ceremony held at the previous facility.
It will have high-speed cameras to view hitters’ swings and pitchers’ throwing motions, pitching coach Jimmy Jackson said. The cameras will be placed below players’ feet at home plate and the pitchers mound.
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Swope said at Maryland’s spring media day that the new facility will be a recruiting asset, showing the Terps have the resources to develop prospects.
“I think it’s going to take what we’re doing to another level,” Jackson said.
The facility’s groundbreaking is part of the athletic department’s $25 million “Building Champions” project. The department said the project will benefit all 20 varsity teams through the construction of various facilities.
Football’s Jones-Hill House and the Field Hockey and Lacrosse Complex have already been completed as part of the project. The school broke ground on the Barry P. Gossett Basketball Performance Center over the summer.
The previous baseball training facility was built over a decade ago and was initially meant to be temporary. The space lacked heating and air conditioning, using kerosine heaters during the winter to warm the space. Swope joked at the ceremony that the old facility reached 110 degrees during the spring and summer months.
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Maryland athletic director Damon Evans said the baseball program needed improved facilities at Swope’s introductory press conference in June 2023. That message followed the departure of Rob Vaughn, the latest of three Terps baseball coaches to leave the program for schools offering more lucrative salaries and higher-quality facilities.
Evans said in June he had renderings of cosmetic changes to Bob “Turtle” Smith Stadium, but never gave a timeline for those changes. The stadium had new synthetic turf and a closed-off bullpen for the home team installed in recent years. Maryland and Michigan State are the only Big Ten teams that don’t have a video scoreboard.
“Maryland athletics will invest in baseball, and will continue to invest in baseball,” Evans said at Swope’s June introduction. “We’ll continue to pour resources into [Maryland baseball] and make sure that we’re supporting the program like it needs to be supported.”
