The Robles indoor experience

LOOMIS -- Weeks after being selected in Major League Baseball's annual amateur draft, Matt Miraldi spoke of a term often saved for a tennis ball."What you want when swing the bat." the Grass Valley resident and American River College student-to-be said with an unfiltered zeal, "is for the ball to fly off the bat with backspin."Such knowledge comes from dedicated players like Miraldi, the son of a former NFL offensive lineman who transferred high schools twice before landing at baseball-heavy Bear River. Those seeking a high level of baseball expertise can find an 8,000 square-foot baseball retreat at this recently built warehouse. Run by a Tampa Bay Devil Rays scout who was actually fired from his job as a coach at Granite Bay High School, Robles Baseball Instruction (RBI) counts nearly 200 players -- ranging from Little Leaguers to collegians -- among its ranks. A run-of-the-mill batting cage this isn't.The indoor facility has five batting cages that can combine into one giant fielding arena. RBI fields six traveling teams in addition to a summer baseball camp, which is open to non-members. Campers come from as far away from Vacaville and the Bay Area.And so players can grow together as a team away from the grind of baseball, RBI even fields a youth basketball team in the winter. "This is not an indoor batting cage," 28-year-old owner Paul Robles said. "This is year-round baseball instruction. This is a great learning environment."Like many baseball dreams, Paul Robles' baseball business began in a backyard. His idea combined with one of his players' luxuries nearly a decade ago. The teenage assistant coach at Roseville High wanted to give extra instruction in the offseason to players from his alma mater. Ian Ackard had a big backyard. The result was an outdoor batting cage frequented by hitters throughout the year, even with a tin roof that would come unhinged during stormy winters.The word spread. Players from different high schools would soon show up in the Ackard's yard. Robles would have spent more time there, were he not juggling time as a student at Sierra College and as a waiter at a Roseville restaurant.Widowed for several years and working hard herself, Alice Robles couldn't let the youngest of her three sons live at home rent-free. But the backyard operation moved to a Roseville aerobics studio by 1999 and continued to grow as Robles became both a freshman and junior varsity assistant coach at Granite Bay High.Well-connected through his job, Robles succeeded at his operation to such an extent that he was able to move it to the state-of-the-art warehouse last April."I worked seven days a-week for six years (after high school)," he said. "My dad had a heart attack in front of me in 1988, I think I was in third grade. With certain things you learn how to grow up quick."Robles has enjoyed his share of good fortune too. Even three months after being let go as Granite Bay's junior varsity head baseball coach, he was officially hired as a Devil Rays scout on Christmas Eve of 2003. Facing the parking lot, RBI's windows are adorned with huge posters of several of the academy's players. It's a sort of gratitude reciprocated by the players themselves.Miraldi got wind of RBI while at a Roseville restaurant. A manager there, Robles' brother Isaac acts a human advertisement when he runs into a local youth baseball player. Even with the commute, Miraldi often spends six days per-week at RBI. He began coming to the facility in October and took special advantage of it during the stormy winter, when many of Bear River's games were postponed by rain.The centerfielder's spring bloomed with a .300 batting average to go with 16 RBIs, which went a long way in helping a squad that went 23-2.The season ended with a loss in the playoffs, but Miraldi was selected in the 39th round by the Devil Rays. The team will hold his rights for another year while he plays for American River.Robles raves over Miraldi's potential. The 18-year-old still doesn't shave yet but owns a muscular 6-foot-2 frame that makes him resemble a wide receiver."My swing was lacking before I came here," Miraldi said. "Now I feel unstoppable. This place is a blessing for me."Plenty of others agree. RBI's Andy Oros (a Jesuit High graduate this year) signed a scholarship at Cal. Granite Bay's Hunter Carnevale inked one this year for Pacific."We want kids to get to the next level, whatever that might entail," Robles said.