Batter Up! MLB San Francisco Giants Gamers Get New Coaching Heart

Players on the San Francisco Giants Major League Baseball (MLB) team are enjoying best-in-class training facilities thanks to a new facility that opened earlier this year at Papago Park in Phoenix, AZ.

Global design firm Populous designed the San Francisco Giants Player Development Center to incorporate the best features of elite training facilities, allowing the team to prepare players and coaches for both the Minor and Major League seasons. The 33-acre site includes six outdoor practice fields (five natural grass, and one synthetic turf), an agility field and covered exterior pitching lanes, the main clubhouse, an indoor practice facility which houses a synthetic grass half field and eight indoor batting lanes , and a new field maintenance building. The complex’s project team included building contractor Okland, site and field contractor Frontier Golf, and landscape architect iN2iT, among other partners and consultants.

(All images courtesy of Populous)

“We believe that together with Populous and all of our project partners, we have designed, created, built and now opened one of the most innovative development centers in baseball,” said Alfonso Felder, executive vice president of administration, San Francisco Giants. “Providing our players with the best resources to achieve their potential is our priority and we believe our new facility does just that.”

The Player Development Center is designed for ease of use throughout the complex — players enjoy easy access from the main clubhouse and locker rooms to all of the playing fields and indoor areas along a centrally-organized walkway, and direct access to the agility field just outside the weight room doors. Players have the option to practice and train both indoors and outdoors on a mix of natural turf and synthetic turf, allowing them to develop flexible skills throughout the complex. At the center of the complex is a plaza that offers public access for games and exhibitions.