We’re closer to parity across MLB spring training facilities, as the Cardinals, Marlins and Orioles updated their player-performance spaces, with Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium also seeing a raft of updates.
It may not have been the dramatic makeover once envisioned by the teams and elected officials, but the Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium upgrades are now live. We had occasion to visit the renovated ballpark at that start of MLB spring training for our springtrainingonline.com site.
The Jupiter, Florida complex is one of the busiest in all of baseball, hosting two MLB spring training camps, two MLB performance centers, two MiLB teams and a host of other events both during the season and in the offseason. Despite all the activity, the complex is in remarkably good shape, and after two years of construction after all sides agreed on a renovation plan—see all the details here—we’re seeing the fruits of that plan this spring.
While much of the work has taken place on the player side of the facilities, including expanded performance/training spaces, clubhouses, batting cages, and more, fans this spring are seeing ballpark-side improvements as well.
Upon entry fans will see one of the splashiest upgrades to the ballpark: a new paint job both inside and out, with earthtones replaced by white with blue trim. That white certainly shines in the Florida sun—even on a cold morning, as we experienced at the beginning of spring training.
For fans, two new amenities make a big impact. Many fans will enter the ballpark from the downtown side and immediately be presented with a new 3,000-square-foot team store. The new space opens both to the ballpark concourse and the exterior, roughly tripling the retail space at the ballpark.
The second new space is down the third-base line, replacing the bleachers and the old concessions hut with a two-story club and bar space. The top level sports the Jupiter Medical Center Champions Club, an all-inclusive space with a private bar, premium seating and dedicated service. The bottom level, the Hot Corner Bar, is an open space with a 50-boot-long bar that can also be reserved by groups but is otherwise open to all. It will be open after games end on select Saturdays, featuring live music.
Together, the new spaces total some 8,000 square feet.
At Ed Smith Stadium, the Orioles are the beneficiaries of a new $23-million, 47,700-square-foot player development facility. It’s a major upgrade to the complex, though it won’t be seen by fans, but it does bring the facility up to current MLB spring training standards on the player-development side.
The new facility includes an indoor, climate-controlled infield that can be used for infield drills and fielding work or separated into four quadrants for individual pitching or batting training, a biomechanics pitching and hitting lab with force plates and over 30 cameras to capture every movement in a player’s form, a covered exterior eight-mound bullpen, two additional covered batting cages, an outdoor turf agility field, classroom spaces, locker rooms, offices, and a player lounge.
“It’s been kind of a dream for us for a few years,” Orioles President of Baseball Operations Mike Elias said via press release. “It’s a huge advantage for us as we train and try to get our players better. This is going to be the anchor of this facility, and this is one of the best. I think it’s the best Spring Training setup in the state of Florida.”
The Orioles will use the facilities year-round, including for its Florida Complex League team, for offseason/winter training, as well as for players rehabbing from injuries.
The facility was designed by Fawley Bryant and built by Tandem Construction; McCullers Group served as Owner’s Representative on the project.
Photo of new Orioles facility courtesy McCullers Group. A version of this article appeared in the springtrainingonline.com newsletter.