About Us
About Balan Baseball Academy
Balan Baseball Academy was founded in 2014 by owner and head coach Ryan Balan with a simple idea - to provide a baseball summer camp option in a neighbourhood where none had previously existed. What started as a small 4-week summer camp has turned into a summer mainstay for many of Toronto's West end families.
We offer a variety of baseball summer camps for players of all skill levels, and provide a positive and engaging environment for campers age 7 to 13.
All camps are held at Ravina Gardens baseball fields in the High Park/Junction neighbourhood.
About Ryan Balan, Owner & Head Coach
Ryan grew up in Whitby, Ontario, playing any and every sport he could convince his parents to drive him to. Upon graduating high school, Ryan earned himself a baseball scholarship to NCAAII California University of Pennsylvania.
He excelled both on and off the field, earning Academic All-conference awards in both his junior and senior years, 2nd team All-Conference his junior year, 1st team All-Conference his senior year, 1st team All-Region his senior year, Player of the Year of both his conference (PSAC) and region (North-Atlantic) his senior year, as well as 2nd team All-American his senior year.
Upon graduation from university, Ryan was signed to a free agent contract by the Boston Red Sox, where he pitched two seasons (2002-03) for the Ft. Myers Red Sox (Class-Rookieball) and the Lowell Spinners (Class-A). He continued his professional playing career internationally, where he played for The Mainz Athletics of the German Bundesliga in 2004 and 2005, the Toowoomba Rangers of the Greater Brisbane Baseball League in 2004-05, and the RCH-Pinguins of the Dutch 1st Class League in 2006.
Having played and coached professionally across 3 continents from 2002 to 2006, Ryan found himself back in Toronto in 2007 working with and for homeless and marginalized youth in Toronto's downtown core.
Despite his professional playing career coming to an end, Ryan continued to stay active in the baseball community, helping Whitby Minor Baseball from 2008 to 2010 as an organizational consultant and an assistant coach for their 16u AAA team.
In 2014, Ryan became involved with Annette Baseball Association where he found an avenue for pursuing his coaching in Toronto. Ryan continues to volunteer with Annette as their T-ball program convener, and assists with their general operations throughout the year.
