Today we’d like to introduce you to Paul Barrios, Randy Rodriguez, and Anthony Nalepa.
Paul Barrios, Owner and Founder was born in Cuba and came to the United States in 1967 during “Los vuelos de la libertad” (The Freedom Flights). He was eight years old when he defected with his mother, father, and younger brother. Paul grew up in Carol City (now known as Miami Gardens) where he spent most of his youth playing baseball, from little league to American Legion. Barrios attended Carol City High School where he played baseball for Rob Hertler as a centerfielder. In 1975, Paul was part of the Carol City Chiefs first state championship which included future major leaguers Nick Esasky and Randy Bush (current assistant GM of the Chicago Cubs). After high school Paul received a baseball scholarship to play shortstop for Broward College (1979-1980) and later recruited by head coach Danny Price (currently head coach for Miami Dade College) to play at Florida International University (1981-1982).
In 1982 the FIU Sunblazers (now Golden Panthers) finished with its best season in school history going 51-12 for the year and finishing fourth in the NCAA Division II College World Series.
After graduating from FIU Paul continued his passion by reuniting with his former high school coach Rob Hertler as his assistant coach at Miami Dade Community College-Downtown (1984). Although he hung up his coaching hat to start his own business, Cloverleaf Insurance Agency, Barrios eventually returned to coach high school baseball at Sheridan Hills Christian (2006-2011), Miami Country Day School (2012-2016), and now at Dr. Michael Krop High School (2017-current).
It was roughly 15 years ago when Paul got the idea to start a baseball academy, a place like no other, with expert coaches, state-of-the-art technology, and innovating techniques. But the timing was not quite right until he found the right place to build it.
He decided to open the All-Star Warehouse Baseball Academy in Miami Gardens right in the same neighborhood where he once learned the game. Since January 2015 the warehouse (as most people call it) has been teaching, developing, and training baseball players from little league to professional.
Paul and his staff coach high school, summer-travel baseball, design personal goals and objectives for individual athletes, monitor academic progress, and specializes in college recruitment. In the beginning, there were only a dozen members the first couple of months but then more players joined the warehouse. When asked how they heard about the facility they said their friends or teammates recommended the place. Some saw players improve and develop so quickly that they naturally asked where they train. Ironically it was at the warehouse.
And thus, more and more players signed up to become members and the academy has been growing since.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
In the beginning it was really rough because it’s an indoor facility so overhead is a bit costly. However, the staff buckled down and bit the bullet while trying to create the brand. At the time, each staff member worked at different high schools sometimes inviting the whole team for a free team practice just to get them in the door. We market the business as much as possible on social media while hosting its own company website. We hosted multiple free events inside the facility, invited little league teams, and even were lucky enough to have parents helped by passing out flyers at their local park. In the end, when parents in Miami-Dade and Broward county notice a player make significant performance improvement, get notability, or commit to play baseball in college. That speaks louder than any marketing campaign.
All-Star Warehouse Baseball Academy – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Randy Rodriguez, College Recruiting Coordinator – One thing for sure is we have Anthony Nalepa, the best pitching coach in south Florida. Not to knock on some of the other great pitching coaches out there but Nalepa is unique in many ways. He doesn’t believe in the all-size-fits-one technique where many coaches try to mold a pitcher into one particular form. Anthony teaches fundamental mechanics while adjusting other techniques that best fits the individual. Nalepa spent many one-on-one sessions with pitching guru Tom House and studied many innovating pitching techniques, medical journals, strength and conditioning and so on. Some of the members who have worked under Nalepa have seen their fastball velocity increase anywhere from 3-14 mph. Many learn or improve their off-speed pitches like the curveball, slider, changeup, and even the split-finger fastball (which is a difficult but effective pitch to throw). As much time as he spends working with pitchers he also works with catchers as it is essential to have a good catcher behind the plate.
He spends a lot of time not just teaching the physical part of the game but also the mental part. How to get hitters out, when to challenge them, what pitch to throw in certain counts, etc. Anthony also spends times with hitters to teaching basic hitting techniques like hitting backside (opposite field), hand and bat extension to drive the baseball, hitting on top of the baseball to create back spin on the baseball for a line drive versus a fly ball.
Aside from that there’s Randy Rodriguez who teaches hitting at the warehouse but spends a majority of his time in college recruitment. Over the years he spent a lot time meeting college coaches and learning the kind of student-athletes they are looking for. Randy is familiar with NCAA, NJCAA, and NAIA recruiting rules and continuously stays up to date with all the new changes year to year. He advises the members throughout their high school career explaining the importance of maintaining grades, scoring well on standardized test such as the SAT and ACT. Rodriguez helps advertise local college showcases for members to attend and helpfully land on a college coaches radar. With the help of the warehouse staff Randy even works on request to make recruiting videos which later he sends personally to colleges coaches.
In reality, there is not a lot of companies or organizations out there with as many services as the All-Star Warehouse. Nor do some act with the same passion as this staff.
For the warehouse staff, it’s always exciting to see players improve, develop, and eventually go off to college and play. The members words are the best marketing we receive.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Our proudest moment having our first ever college signing Miguel Rodriguez.
He was a starting right-handed pitcher at The City of Hialeah Educational Academy. Small athlete standing at 5′ 7″ weighing 145 lbs. throwing a fastball at 74-76 mph in the Fall. After several months working under Anthony Nalepa, Miguel finished his senior year 6-4 with a 2.70 ERA and 38Ks in 49.1 innings pitched. He learned to throw Nalepa’s famous split-finger fastball while increasing his fastball velocity from 76 to 85 mph. Between the Miguel’s strong work ethic, Nalepa’s coaching, Randy’s recruiting campaign, and Paul’s positive influence Miguel signed a baseball scholarship to play NCAA division II baseball at Upper Iowa University. Considering Miguel, an only child, came with his parent to the US from Cuba just 4 years prior they never conceived the idea that he would be attending college let alone on a baseball scholarship.
Contact Info:
- Address: 1161 NW 159th Drive, Miami, Fl 33169
- Website: www.allstarwh.com
- Phone: 786-955-6652
- Email: info@allstarwh.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/allstarwarehouse/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/allstarwarehouse/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/allstarwh
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/all-star-warehouse-miami-gardens
Image Credit:
Anthony Nalepa
Randy Rodriguez
Paul Barrios
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