Baseball training facility, travel teams planned for Morganton

Morganton native Kross Robinson has been involved in baseball since he was in elementary school, and after playing the sport all the way through college, it remains a passion of his to this day.

A 2016 Patton High School graduate, Robinson pitched collegiately at Brevard College and then UNC Greensboro, competing at all three NCAA levels (Division I, II, and III) at one point or another due to Brevard moving from D-II to D-III during his time there. But he initially wasn’t going to play in college before hitting a growth spurt during his senior year at Patton.

“I went into my senior year of high school at 5-foot-8, and by the time baseball season came around in the spring I was 6-1,” said Robinson, who has since grown to 6-4. “I wasn’t really recruited out of high school, and I had already paid my down payment for room and board at App State just to go to school. … But I had the opportunity to go play at Brevard College and was a little bit unsure. I wasn’t a super high-level pitcher at the time, I was a decent high school pitcher and that was about it.”

That’s when Robinson received some advice from his two high school head coaches, Jonathan Browning and Kurt Reid, that changed his way of thinking.

According to Robinson, they told him that there was “a very short window of time that you can play baseball, but you can go to college at any time, you can get an education at any time.” After having conversations with “two guys that were super impactful for me,” Robinson ultimately committed to playing at Brevard.

“It was talking to those guys that really pushed me to make the jump and go to Brevard, and I was super blessed with the way things developed,” said Robinson. “I was fortunate enough that by the time that I was a sophomore or junior at Brevard, my fastball was in the mid-90s, and I had the opportunity to transfer to UNC Greensboro after I graduated. I had two extra years with the COVID season that the NCAA gave back to us and a redshirt year from injury, so I was able to go to UNC Greensboro and get my master’s degree there.”

Robinson graduated from UNC Greensboro in 2022 and lived in Wilmington for a while before moving back to his hometown in March 2023. He had offered baseball training lessons on a part-time basis dating back to his days at Brevard, and it was at this point that he was able to make it a full-time gig.

About a month ago, Robinson was presented with the opportunity to join Pro Arena Group, LLC, a family of companies including a baseball training facility based in Mooresville, as their director of college recruitment. As discussions continued, the decision was made to expand to Morganton, with Robinson also taking on the roles of pitching instructor and Arena Morganton general manager.

“We’ve just kind of taken off and been very fortunate that we’ve had some really good feedback and a lot of interest so far,” said Robinson. “We’ve hit the ground running, and we’re looking for a brick and mortar, looking to get that going in the near future and obviously very excited about that, to have a place for everybody in the community to be a part of.”

For the time being, Arena Morganton is offering lessons at Patton, with hopes of having its own building by the end of the year. In the meantime, Arena Morganton has been in contact with many of the schools in Burke County, and the goal is “to work with the school systems and make sure that we can help support them as well.”

“It’s a situation where I want every school in the community to feel like we’re a resource for them and feel like we are there to help them,” said Robinson. “... We’re trying to work with them and help them to maximize their athletes and their capabilities.

“Nobody can predict a kid’s future, nobody can predict where they’re gonna be in 10 years, but our job is to be honest with the parents, to be honest with the athletes, and help them maximize their capabilities. … You might have a really mature 15-year-old and he’s really good right now, but you might also have a 12-year-old who is really small, doesn’t seem like they’re growing, and they’re just a late bloomer. So, it’s really important to help those guys maximize where they’re at right now and just put them on the right path for development.”

In addition to the lessons that are currently being offered at Patton — athletes can choose to focus on hitting, pitching, fielding, catching, or a combination of skills — by Robinson “and a few other members of the community that are helping that have a really vast background in baseball and a really high-level knowledge of the game,” travel teams associated with Arena Morganton are also in the works.

As a matter of fact, on July 15 from 6-8 p.m. at Patton, the organization will hold tryouts for baseball players ages 14-18 who are interested in joining one of the travel teams.

“We’ve got some really high-level coaches coming in to help facilitate and run those teams,” said Robinson. “Our goal is to make sure that we’re offering a really high-quality product for those athletes and putting them in the right tournaments and in the right camps to succeed. We want to get them in front of the colleges that need to see their abilities.”

For his part, Robinson believes that giving back to the community that he grew up in is “what the dream has always been,” and he’s excited to do so through the game that he loves.

“By no means are we working magic, we’re just giving them the tools to be successful,” Robinson stated of what makes what he’s doing so rewarding. “Obviously, there’s the physical side of things, but just as important as that is the mental side of it. Instilling confidence in those guys is very, very important. … It’s super rewarding to see those guys go from a baseball player that lacks confidence to a genuine athlete that is ready to compete every time they step on the field.”

For more information about lessons or teams based out of Arena Morganton, Robinson can be reached at 828-390-6479 or krobinson@gmail.com. Furthermore, if you are ready to start taking lessons, information about getting set up can be found at tinyurl.com/proarenalessons.