Behind the Walmart on Desjardins Way lies an undeveloped patch of land that is set to become the future home of Toronto Mets Baseball, which is working on building its new practice facility in Aurora.
The facility at 24 Desjardins Way would include a large weight room, eight batting cages, as well as pitching mounds and a simulated infield, allowing the club to offer better training to its players. The Toronto Mets youth baseball program has been running for more than 14 years in the Greater Toronto Area.
The program is for high-level baseball players aged 10 to 18, and aims to push players onto the next level of the sport, whether it be college programs in the U.S., national teams, or playing professionally, according to club president Ryan McBride.
The program has seen 31 players turn professional, including Newmarket pitcher Mitch Bratt.
McBride said Aurora made sense given its “accessible” location near the 404, with more than 160 players from across the Greater Toronto Area set to practise at the facility.
“Our program continues to grow and it’s just the natural next step for us to upgrade our facility to a bigger space with more technology,” he said. “Obviously, a larger weight room, more cages for our players, more pitching mounds, it’s just really a natural evolution for our program.”
Rich Leitch, vice-president and director of baseball operations, said the team’s previous training facilities in Scarborough and Richmond Hill have been retrofitted, meaning they were not ideal for the club’s needs.
“This is actually a custom build from the ground up,” he said. “So it’s built to our specs, it’s going to give us everything we need from the program to take our kids to the next level for sure.”
“The weight room is so important. One thing we’ve always said in our program, one thing where we’re kind of behind the eight ball sometimes as Canadians, is in the physicality department. We know that the U.S. kids start lifting weights at a much younger age.”
Leitch said during his time at the club, he has seen the hometowns of players shift from mainly Toronto to the surrounding suburbs.
“The way the demographics are going, a lot of population is moving east, west and north of the city, so we know there’s a lot of good players out there, we want to make sure we put ourselves in a position to attract top-quality players obviously, but we want top-quality people.”
Aurora Mayor Tom Mrakas said he was "thrilled" at the news the club was moving to Aurora.
"I look forward to seeing the positive impact this will have on our sports programs and the local baseball community," he said in an email statement. "Who knows —maybe we'll even see the team adopt the name Aurora Mets as they become an even more integral part of our town’s identity."
"This is yet another example of the increasing number of businesses and organizations choosing Aurora as their home base. The Toronto Mets join a growing list of head offices relocating to our town, reinforcing Aurora’s reputation as a thriving and supportive place to grow a business," he added.
According to Aurora’s planning director, Marco Ramunno, earth works are currently being done to prepare the land for construction.
“The site plan application is under review and approval of the site plan and issuance of building permit to allow building construction to commence is anticipated by end of October or early November,” Ramunno added in an email statement.
McBride said the club is eyeing an early 2025 move-in date.
