Port Chester’s ProSwing Under New Management, Becomes Warrior Baseball NY
By James Miranda
Port Chester’s ProSwing is under new management and is undergoing a rebranding in order to continue and tweak its programs to become a premier tristate baseball facility.
Principal Member Joe Messina and Managing Director Mike Skrapits purchased the facility on Jan. 9 and renamed it Warrior Baseball NY. A different ProSwing location in Mount Kisco will remain under the original ownership and operate separately from Warrior Baseball, according to Skrapits and Messina.
The building hits home for both. It has an “excellent footprint,” something they’d love to further.
“If you could pick a place and diagram what you would want to do with it, this is it,” said Messina, a 49-year-old Rye native who’s been bringing his children to the facility for about a decade. “We need to be at the cutting edge of baseball. It has become a game where people measure how fast they’re running, how hard they’re throwing, how hard they hit the baseball. We need to help the kid that wants to excel in the game and help him get to his maximum level by training him in a way that baseball players need to be trained today. We need to do this without losing the fact that a lot of kids just play the game because it’s fun.”
The two want to keep the building and programs as familiar as possible, but they want to “tweak” certain things. Specifically, they want to expand youth sports offerings and partner with local communities more effectively than in the past, by offering a catered experience to all skill levels, and exploring opportunities and partnerships that will help augment training as the sport becomes more of a numbers game.
Certain things, however, are being kept under wraps until the time to announce comes and there are plans to re-work the space to make it more functional. But nothing’s set, according to Skrapits.
What was announced, however, was that the baseball and softball teams will be changing their team name and uniforms when the spring season begins and at the end of the summer season, respectively, to the Warriors.
“We think that a rebranding is an important way to establish a different product,” Messina said. “We think we can do things a little more efficiently.”
Much of the facility, a 22,000 square-foot building with two turf fields, seven pitching mounds and batting cages, and a two-floor gym on 36 Midland Ave., will remain the same. An extensive industrial cleanup including painting and repairs is underway.
Warrior Baseball will also continue some of the existing main programs like group and private lessons, hitting and pitching clinics, strength and conditioning programs, after school classes, and rentals to multiple outside competitive teams.
“Getting a kid to reach his potential is a different thing for different kids,” said Skrapits, who’s worked at the facility in the past in front desk, senior instructor, and general manager roles. “Some kids will get in here and their goal is to play Division-I ball. We’ll be prepared to help them do that. Another kid’s goal might be to get a little bit better in Little League and we’ll be prepared to help them do that.”
Warrior Baseball NY is located at 36 Midland Ave., Port Chester; 914-937-6700. You can also visit their Facebook page.
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