FLUSHING, NY — On Thursday, April 16th, 2026, the New York Mets held a day of celebration in Boca Chica, Dominican Republic, opening the organization’s new state of the art development facility with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The $10 million project, fully paid for by Mets owners Steve Cohen and his wife Alex, includes a 10,000-square-foot weight room, 16,900-square-foot turf agility field and an expanded training room with hot/cold plunge pools. Among other amenities, all of which will pay dividends for the Mets in the long-term, is an open-air batting cage extension, remodeled clubhouse, nutrition bar, classrooms for educational programs and 18 suite-style bedrooms designed for players.
Those players (16-18-year-olds) are young international prospects who sign with the Mets during their teenage years, dreaming of one day playing in the Show. Despite money usually being the main factor in a certain international prospect out of “X” (country) signing with “Y” (team), a year-round baseball training academy, one at the cream of the crop, could potentially play an element into one’s decision as well.
The Mets recently unveiled their new state of the art development facility located in Boca Chica, Dominican Republic, which will be used by all of their international prospects year-round as well as current Mets during their offseason – Image Credit: New York Mets
“A lot of them have minimal exposure to the type of training envisionment that we’re going to be putting them in,” Mets director of player development Andrew Christie said. “Having the best possible equipment, the most possible space, the greatest number of options to make them more physically gifted I think is a huge, huge competitive advantage for us.”
Along with the Cohen family, the Mets had this planned for a few years, which is the same agenda in Port St. Lucie, Florida, as the organization’s player development complex currently undergoes a $60 million renovation.
“It’s another instance of Steve and Alex going above and beyond the rest of the league,” Christie added. “They have continued to do that since they bought the team.”
Since Cohen completed the purchase of the Mets for $2.4 million in November of 2020, it goes without any debate of the franchise upscaling to one of the top-spending organizations in MLB on and off the diamond.
To help come together on more ideas and additions to their new $10 million development facility in Boca Chica, Dominican Republic, the Mets, visiting over 20 rival facilities, opted to have many of the same features that are seen across the Division 1 college football landscape – Image Credit: New York Mets
Off of it is just as important as the Mets’ largest signing under Cohen’s ownership in Juan Soto went into detail on what it means to him seeing the organization pull such strings in his homeland.
“It’s great to see what the Mets have been doing and how they’ve been taking care of the Dominican Republic,” said Soto last week at Citi Field during a press conference for the Latin media. “I feel like they’ve been doing a great job, you know, not only on the fields, on the facilities, but then actually on the education of the kids. I think it’s a really important thing for the Dominican.”
The 27-year-old superstar, a three-time LatinoMVP Award winner, signed with the Washington Nationals in 2015 at the age of 16 out of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. So as much as he is one of the current faces of Major League Baseball, a future Cooperstown Hall of Famer, with a $765 million/15-year mega-contract, Soto was once that international prospect striving to be a Major Leaguer.
Juan Soto was once in the shoes of those currently trying to make a name for themselves as an international prospect – Image Credit: Francisco Rodriguez/Latino Sports
“It’s tough times in the education (system) because kids gotta go out of school so early to play baseball and all that kind of stuff, and now, they have the ability to actually educate themselves in the academy,” he went on to say. “It’s really cool to see. I’m really happy and really excited about what they’ve been doing…
And actually on the facilities, how much money they’ve been putting in, the ownership and how they’ve been building a great facility for guys to develop and try to come all the way here to the big leagues is really cool to see. I’m really excited to see it in person and enjoy it with the kids down there.”
Follow us on Social Media for updates and exclusive content
Instagram: @latinosportsoficial
Facebook: Latino Sports
Twitter: @latinosports
