The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Baseball opens J. Dan Brown Family Player Development Center
10.19.2019 | Baseball, Longhorn Foundation
The Longhorns cut ribbon on 21,500-square-foot facility, featuring new weight room, indoor batting cages and bullpens.
AUSTIN, Texas – Texas Baseball officially unveiled its new 21,500-square-foot J. Dan Brown Family Player Development Center at UFCU Disch-Falk Field with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Saturday.
"The bottom line is, this does not happen without the generosity of our donors," Texas baseball head coach David Pierce said. "Our players had an opportunity to go in the facility last night and just watching their faces light up when they realized what they are receiving because of the amazing support is really special."
Texas broke ground on the player development center in September 2018 and it is the first athletics facility on the Forty Acres to be funded solely by donors. The two-story facility features a new weight room, nutrition center, batting cages, bullpen, alumni locker room and office space.
Nearly doubling the size of the Longhorns' current weight room and consisting of all new equipment, the new sports performance center is just over 3,700 square feet. The room consists of state-of-the-art equipment and a second-story cardio area.
In the heart of the facility is a 5,500-square-foot multi-purpose turf area with adjustable netting for batting cages. An extremely versatile space, it can be configured to have one enclosed area for live at-bats or up to six individual batting cages depending on the situation.
The 2,200-square-foot bullpen and pitching lab includes three mounds and state-of-the-art technology for recording bullpen sessions and breaking down video.
The new Cliff Gustafson Pavilion, located down the first base line and the McMinn Plaza down the third base line are also part of the project. The pavilion is named for the legendary Longhorn baseball coach, who led Texas to 22 Southwest Conference titles, 17 College World Series appearances and two national titles. Jason and Justin McMinn along with their wives, Heather and Kendall, respectively, committed a $1 million gift to the new baseball player development facility.
