PLANS to construct a baseball field at the Trelawny Multi-Purpose Stadium will be fast-tracked now that Major League Baseball (MLB) has offered to assist the Government.

This was disclosed today during a press briefing at the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture following earlier discussions with Sport Minister Olivia Grange and MLB’s manager of international baseball operations for Latin America, Renaldo Peralta, who is on a three-day visit to the island.

“The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Sports will have its work manifest through the Institute of Sports. It is my greatest pleasure to announce that a baseball diamond (field) in Trelawny will be a reality,” Grange said while displaying a master development plan for the Trelawny facility.

A section of the multi-faceted plan includes a field for baseball which could be implemented before the laying of a 400-metre Mundo track.

“We’re most certain that it won’t be our last time here,” stated the Nicaraguan-born Peralta. “The support from the Jamaican Government brings excitement. We want to totally help develop the game and present the youths of Jamaica with new opportunities.”

Peralta’s visit, which ends tomorrow, has been largely due to the efforts of INSPORTS, the state agency responsible for sports development in Jamaica.

Lead director of the pilot progamme Donovan Corcho says baseball is a sport many Jamaicans can excel at based on their natural athletic ability.

The main goal is to implement baseball, one of North America’s most popular sports, through the schools, starting at the primary level.

Jamaica stands to benefit even more with additional aid in the form of gear and equipment from the Babe Ruth Little League Baseball World Series.

Jamaican-born Andrew Dixon, a former professional baseball player, is a member of the Babe Ruth Little League Baseball World Series and is excited about the new development. He sees this initiative as a way of giving back to Jamaica.

Through the efforts of Dixon and the Babe Ruth Little League Baseball World Series vice-president Tim Surrency, Jamaica is set to receive shipments of baseball items for the upcoming pilot project that involves 12 Corporate Area primary schools.

Meanwhile, Grange urged Peralta to “sell” Jamaica as a country that enhances all sports “using our most recent adoption of skiing during the just-concluded Winter Olympics in Canada”.