MLB All-Star Weekend Spotlights HBCU Baseball

The Major League Baseball All-Star Game in Seattle in July marked the launch of the HBCU Swingman Classic, a game that featured 50 Division I HBCU baseball players. Propelled by the MLB-Major League Baseball Players Association Youth Development Foundation (YDF) and Hall of Famer/YDF ambassador Ken Griffey Jr., the televised game enabled HBCU baseball players to showcase their talents on a global stage.

Jean Lee Batrus“This has been a long time coming,” said Jean Lee Batrus, executive director of YDF, which is a joint initiative of MLB and the MLBPA. “Ken Griffey Jr. really saw the need to give back to baseball.” Batrus said there was a need to have an event highlighting the work of the MLB-MLBPA YDF that elevates the top talent of HBCU players who are often overlooked by pro scouts. “There’s no better place to do that than at the All-Star Game,” she said.

“This is one of the biggest stages that has ever been given HBCU schools and their top baseball athletes,” said Sherman Reed, head baseball coach at Coppin State University. “We’re already using this when we go out to talk to these kids about coming to Coppin to pursue baseball.”

Promoting diversity in baseball

When Batrus became executive director in 2018, she worked on building and implementing programs around the U.S. more than $25.1 million has been spent across 40 states to continue growing diverse participation in baseball.

“This showcase is so important to those kids,” said Batrus. “When they tune in, they will see high level talent on the field that looks like them. They’ll also see Ken Griffey Jr. in the dugout working with both teams and Hall of Famers like Andre Dawson, Marquis Grissom and Rickie Weeks. That speaks volumes to these children across the country.”

Three players from Coppin State were selected to play in the Swingman Classic — Jordan Hamburg, Rashad Ruff, and Mike Dorcean, who all played on the team that won the 2022 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference title. This year, the team switched to the Northeast Conference (NEC) made up mostly of PWIs, which brings an increased level of play.