GRB RAYS ANNOUNCE RAYS-NORTH
The GRB Rays brand is excited to announce the addition of the GRB Rays North program. In conjunction with Velocity Baseball, the teams located near the Green Bay area will now be known as GRB Rays North.
The GRB Rays North teams will join the GRB Rays and continue the tradition of giving players within the organization the highest level of training and skill development as well as a platform for national college recruiting of its high school aged players by playing in the top travel tournaments in the nation. Development will be at the top of the list of things offered to players.
GRB Rays North will be the fourth GRB Rays branded location. Currently the GRB Rays are located at their home location of Windsor, WI near Madison, Waukesha, and McHenry, Illinois. In addition, Northstar Baseball of Minneapolis, MN is a partner of the GRB Rays.
Velocity Baseball currently has five baseball teams and three softball teams out of their Howard location led by Mike and Jack Collins. In addition to their teams, Velocity and their staff trained over 450 other players this past offseason. Many of those athletes play for organizations reaching all around the state of WI.
“We are excited for the creation of GRB Rays North and the training that comes from Velocity Baseball from Mike and Jack. From the beginning of the GRB program, the consistent message has included that there be excellent training opportunities for players who want to get better, coaches and trainers who truly care about the development of the player and person, and competitive team competition and organization. Velocity has been outstanding at training and truly cares about their players. With the creation of GRB Rays North, we are excited to have this opportunity with Velocity to create teams with the GRB Rays platform. For the past several years, our players on our teams out of the Madison area have worked with and learned from Mike and Jack. It has been a great option for those who could not commute all the time down here,” said Greg Reinhard, founder of the GRB Rays and GRB Academy.
“It’s been really fun to watch the growth of Velocity by training kids and players the right way. Mike trusted GRB with his son Jack in 2014 and 2015, who was a great pitcher and D1 commitment for our program. There are several former Rays that are instructors there as well. Jack Collins, Grant Frazer, Tanner Umentum, Riley Pelischek. Personally, I have a soft spot for players from Northeast Wisconsin looking to reach their goals and get better, since I am from the area and was that player at one point in my life,” quoted Greg Reinhard.
“Working with GRB seemed like a natural fit for us at Velocity. There have been so many players we have worked with that have gone on to star for Greg, including my own son Jack who is the director of baseball operations here. We are also excited to add to our Velocity staff January of 2023. You combine the best development programs in N.E. Wisconsin, with the best travel ball organization in the state, and you can see the players that come out of it. This partnership also allows us to keep our focus on our passion, which is development and helping to make great kids. GRB and Greg’s staff helps us with recruitment, player videos, access to top invite only tournaments, providing for the best travel ball experience in N.E. Wisconsin. Great partnerships start with identifying synergies between businesses. In this case 1 + 1 = 3. We are excited to not only be the leader in performance training, but now elite travel baseball and softball,” quoted Velocity Owner Mike Collins.
Velocity began training players in the Denmark area in 2012, and officially launched and organized in 2015. Over 100 college athletes have signed out of Velocity in the last 9 years, 17 D1’s, and numerous MLB draft picks have trained here as well.
The GRB Rays began in 2010, and since the inception have sent over 357 players to the collegiate level with 11 players chosen in the Major League Baseball Draft, including one 1st round selection and one former player playing at the Major League level. Over 133 former GRB Rays players have committed from GRB to the Division 1 level out of high school.
