[DR1] MLB prepares players for the future

[NewsWhore]

The Cleveland Indians and the New York Mets have become the first Major League baseball teams to endorse programs to educate the minds of Dominican ball players, as reported in Clave Digital. The reality is that only 5% of recruited ball players make it to Major League baseball teams. Most of the remaining players return to the DR. The program, Prepara, at the Instituto Escuela in Santo Domingo, seeks to develop critical and logical thinking in the players, to boost their self esteem and to push them along academically so that if they don't make it, they can find jobs at home. In the past, the reality was that most Dominican ball players making it to the Major Leagues had but a sixth grade schooling level, compared to most US ball players who are university graduates. Valerie Leon, who taught for many years at Santo Domingo's Carol Morgan School, and is now in charge of Instituto Escuela, developed this special program. She sees the players she gets as "diamonds in the rough". While only two of the Academies are participating at present, she hopes that more will sign their players on to the program. The programs enable the students to achieve a high school level education. In the first year, the first five Cleveland Indians students have already graduated and the Mets' first nine are due to graduate soon.

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