Prep Baseball Report

MLB DC Takes on The Northeast


Dominic Beecher
Senior Operations and Scouting: Lumber Yard, New York

CORTLAND, NY. – The arrival to the United States began back on June 18, 2025 as the 22-player roster as well as coaching staff took flight from Beijing, China to LaGuardia airport in Queens, New York where the team would soon compete in their first-ever Prep Baseball Tournament labeled Northeast Summer Championships in Yaphank, New York - home of Lasorda Legacy. This would be the first of four tournaments the MLB Development Center would compete in throughout the next month. 


Founded in 2009 in Wuxi, China, the MLB Development Center (MLB DC) was established to offer high-level baseball training combined with a strong academic focus. Since then, Major League Baseball has expanded its development centers to two more locations in Changzhou and Nanjing, China. These centers year-round, aim to cultivate baseball skills and educational excellence in young athletes with aspirations of playing at the collegiate and professional level.


Ray Chang, director and manager of MLB DC, is a former Minor League baseball player from Kansas City, Missouri and a graduate from Rockhurst University with 12 seasons of professional baseball under his belt. Chang played for five big league organizations, starting his career in 2005 as an undrafted free agent signing with the San Diego Padres. Ray capped off his career as a two-time MiLB All-Star (2010, 2015) and competed in the World Baseball Classic in 2009, 2013, 2017, and 2023 representing Team China. His professional career officially came to a close with the Miami Marlins organization, before eventually taking over the helm of the MLB Development Center in 2020. 


In their first tournament, MLB DC came up shy of a championship but showed determination to continue and improve as they got ready to start their three-week stay in Cortland, New York – the home site of the Lumber Yard.  After the conclusion of tournament one, the team made the four-and-a-half-hour trek upstate and got ready to compete in some more hard-nosed Northeast travel baseball.


A even more unique opportunity the players from MLB DC got to experience was the chance to showcase all of their talents at the annual New York State Games, an event where a tallied 75-plus college coaches annually attend. This would be the first true chance for these international athletes to get their names more out there to college coaches in the United States. The State Games are a showcase event where players are run through various offense, defense, and metric base training. The event also includes modified games. All players receive data collected from Trackman, Blast Motion, Vald, Visual Edge, and s2 Cognition training, all of which is later added to their personal Prep Baseball profiles. After the conclusion of State Games, it was time for MLB DC to get back to work and to regain focus for three more weekends of competitive baseball. 
 
In a recent newspaper article interview with The Cortland Standard, Sports Editor Aidan Briggs stated that – Chang described the overall landscape and surrounding areas of Cortland as a “smaller town, but a baseball town”- a place where teams from all around come and play tournament baseball throughout the summer. Ray’s vision with MLB DC is to get the players exposure, let them have fun, and give them early opportunities to continue and showcase their talents.

After speaking with Ray more on a personal note, he expressed that overall, the players and coaching staff had an amazing time up in Cortland – they all loved the playing environment day in and day out and couldn’t believe when they had other teams and parents cheering them on from the stands. But at the end of the day, that is what this great game is all about. The MLB Development Center finished off their last tournament in Cortland on a high note, as champions of the New York Summer championships. Over the course of four weekends, the program compiled an impressive 17-4-0 record, with a winning percentage of .809. On the scoring side, they posted 133 total runs scored while allowing just 64.

Ray concluded with this: ‘I was extremely proud of our players on not only how they performed on the field but how they behaved off the field. We preach “Family Baseball” and “Men for others” at our development centers. Their actions truly represented Major League Baseball and the entire country of China in an excellent manner. It’s clear they upheld the highest standards and showcased great professionalism throughout’ (Chang, 2025).  


From us at the Lumber Yard, it was a true honor hosting this organization and young athletes for four weekends of non-stop competitive baseball, and we hope to do it again sometime in the near future. These young athletes showed heart, strength, and perseverance through the ups and downs of what baseball is. Through it all, they stayed positive and had each other’s back before eventually becoming champions. All coverage from Prep Baseball Tournament events including some highligths on the players from MLB DC can be found below and on X with the handle @pbtscouting