Minnesota kids excited to Play Ball with Twins

WOODBURY, Minn. — Brandon Johnson’s 9-year-old son, Zachary, keeps busy with his baseball schedule. There are a few weekly games, and regular practices in addition to the games. But the opportunity to learn at a free clinic on Saturday was too good to pass up.

Zachary was one of dozens of kids who learned from coaches at the Play Ball Minnesota Youth Skills Clinic at the Bielenberg Sports Complex in Woodbury. The event, which was put hosted by the Minnesota Twins, is part of the “Play Ball” initiative launched last year by Major League Baseball.

Kids at the Woodbury event Saturday learned plenty of fundamentals — from throwing to catching to hitting. The first session consisted of kids ages 6-9, while the second group later in the day was made up of 10- to 13-year-old kids.

• Complete Youth Baseball coverage

“Just the quality of coaching, to be able to be exposed to that, is huge,” Johnson said. “To learn some of the fundamentals — even though I grew up playing baseball, I really didn’t have exposure to Twins coaches.”

John Wilkens was one of the coaches Saturday at Woodbury. A former University of Minnesota baseball player, Wilkens …

continue reading in source mlb.mlb.com