The Problem No One Talks About

In the Dominican Republic, baseball is everywhere. So are the men who profit from it.

They're called buscones — scouts and handlers who pull teenage boys out of school with a pitch: train full-time, and we'll get you a contract. No diplomas. No backup plan. Just promises. Most of those promises never come through. When the kid doesn't make it to an MLB academy, he's left with nothing — no education, no degree, no options.

This is the system Empower Baseball exists to fight.

What We Actually Are

Empower Baseball operates two fields in Barahona, a city on the southern coast of the Dominican Republic. We call them play grande and play chiquito. About 46 kids, ages 5 to 18, come to those fields to practice. But they can only show up if they're in school.

That's the deal. School first, baseball second. Always.

We run tutoring alongside practices. There's no office. No overhead staff in air conditioning. The money goes to the fields, the water, the kids, and the three people who make this work every day.

The People Doing the Work

I'm Brian Straley. I'm based in Utah. I'm not on the ground — Bernarda Acosta is.

I've known Bernarda for 25 years. She runs everything in Barahona. She communicates with parents, manages the staff, keeps the whole operation moving. She currently earns $200 a month. That is not a typo. She has told me directly: if she can't be paid more, she'll have to find other work. I can't blame her. She has a family to support.

Ulises Batista is the head coach. He runs every practice, tracks every kid, knows their names and their situations. He earns $304 a month. He's also said he'll have to leave if things don't change. Ulises is not replaceable. The kids know him. He knows them.

Rosa handles content and community communication — keeping families informed, documenting what we do. She earns $144 a month.

These are not volunteers. These are people doing hard, skilled work for survival wages in a place where the cost of living is low but not that low. This program does not exist without them.

Julio's Story

Julio Zenón grew up in Barahona. As a teenager, he was pulled into the buscone system — dropped out of school, trained full-time at a private academy on the promise of a professional contract.

It didn't work out. His parents separated. His mom heard about Empower Baseball and brought him in. We told him the same thing we tell everyone: stay in school, and you can play.

He stayed. He's now on track to graduate high school — something that looked impossible a few years ago. He wants to keep playing, maybe at an MLB academy in Santo Domingo, maybe on a university scholarship. A four-year degree in the Dominican Republic runs about $1,100 a year. That's not out of reach if he gets there.

Julio is one kid. There are 45 others.

What $60,000 Does

Here is where the money goes, as plainly as I can say it:

Staff stipends — Raising Ulises to $500/month, Bernarda to $500/month, Rosa to a fair wage, and adding one part-time assistant: approximately $30,000/year
Field fees — Paid to the city's athletic department for access to both fields
Equipment — Baseballs, bats, helmets; uniforms run about $40 per kid
Water — Clean drinking water at the field. Kids practice in serious heat.
Locker room — Basic upgrades to the facility they currently use
Tutoring materials and school supplies — Notebooks, pencils, the basics
Transportation — Getting kids to and from practices and games
Scholarships — For graduates like Julio who want to continue their education

The current staff stipend total is around $18,000 a year. That's not a viable wage structure. Raising it to something sustainable — closer to $30,000 — is the most important thing this campaign does.

The Ask

If you give to this campaign, you are directly paying the people who show up every day in Barahona. You're keeping the fields open. You're making it possible for a kid who got a bad deal to have another option.

There's no pressure here. Give what makes sense for you.

If you can share this with one other person who cares about this kind of work, that helps too.

Thank you for reading all the way to the end.

— Brian Straley, Founder

🤝 Empower Baseball is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
Tax ID / EIN: 85‑0947825

Empower Baseball 2026 — Education First. Baseball Second

Help us keep 46 kids in school and on the field in Barahona, Dominican Republic. Every dollar pays the coaches and covers the costs that keep this program alive

Team Members