Kansas City Royals Baseball Academy

The Kansas City Royals Baseball Academy (also known as the Royals Academy and the GCL Royals Academy) was a part of the player development system of the Kansas City Royals in the early 1970s. An innovation conceived by Ewing Kauffman, the franchise's original owner, the goal was to develop quality athletes into major-league-caliber ballplayers for the organization. The only three Academy students who graduated to the majors were Ron Washington, U L Washington and Frank White. The concept was discontinued in May 1974.

Constructed at a cost of about US $1.5 million, the academy was located on 121 acres (49 ha) of land just southeast of Sarasota, Florida. The facilities consisted of two buildings and five baseball diamonds, each built to the exact specifications of the one at Royals Stadium which opened in April 1973. That meant all the fields had AstroTurf playing surfaces, sliding pits around the bases instead of a full dirt infield, uniform 12-foot (3.66 m) outfield walls and measurements of 330 ft (100.58 m) down the foul lines, 385 ft (117.35 m) in the power alleys, 410 ft (124.97 m) to straightaway center field and 60 ft (18.29 m) from home plate to the backstop.

The facilities are now part of Twin Lakes Park, which was purchased by Sarasota County in 1986. It was renamed the Buck O'Neil Baseball Complex on March 8, 1995. Various major league ballclubs have used it in the decades following the academy's closure. The latest is the Baltimore Orioles, beginning with the start of spring training in 1990, and continuing since 1991 as the site of its minor league camp.

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