Player development specialist · The coach behind BatPath iQ

40 years in the game.
One lesson worth passing on.

Ben Fines has spent his life developing ballplayers — from his first swing at age four to playing, instructing, and coaching alongside pros. Then his own daughters showed him what the game was missing.

Ben Fines, player development specialist

It started at four.

His mom was his first coach — she ran his team for his first two years in the game. By fourteen he was instructing at the World Children’s Baseball Fair. A scholarship athlete and Team Canada outfielder, he spent three decades as a head instructor, program developer, and coach.

Two provinces. Two academies. Eleven seasons where he played, instructed, and coached alongside MLB and professional players.

Ben Fines with his mom, his first coach — His mom — his first coach, for his first two years in the game.

Ben's newborn daughter wrapped in his outfielder's mitt — His firstborn, tucked into his outfielder’s mitt.

Then he became a dad.

Raising his own daughters revealed the real gap. The biggest challenge young athletes face isn’t physical — it’s mental.

The fear of striking out. The fear of letting everyone down. And the one nobody says out loud — standing in against a pitch that could hit you. That fear looks physical. It’s really mental. And it’s the moment the game stops being fun.

The little things, opened up.

Reading a pitch. Knowing your own body. Understanding the game beneath the game. The details that make a player used to be reserved for families who could afford private lessons — the kind Ben charged up to $120 an hour for.

BatPath iQ opens that door to everyone. Anyone who walks in gets better and leaves loving the game more — and some of the kids he developed came back to coach the next ones.

Ben Fines with World Series champion Devon White — From a poster on his childhood bedroom wall to running an outfield station beside him — World Series champion and Blue Jays legend Devon White.

Built from the ground up.

Most kids meet the mental side of the game far too late — long after the car rides home turned quiet, the after-game talk in the outfield stung, and the fun quietly drained out. Around thirteen, a lot of them walk away.

BatPath iQ starts where it should: age four. Coaches and families learn to build resilience early — the pre-game prep, the drills, the little skills most of us were never taught, or were taught too late — all grounded in what the newest research shows helps young athletes thrive, on the field and off it.

Young players competing in a reaction drill — Reaction drills — fast, fun, and a favourite in every practice.

Three decades in the game

30 yrs

Head instructor, program developer & coach

Team Canada

Outfielder & Junior National Team invitee

Scholarship

Baseball scholarship, Thompson Rivers University

11 seasons

Played, instructed & coached alongside MLB and pro players

Since age 14

Instructing from the World Children’s Baseball Fair to SaskBaseball, BLE & beyond

RSS Academy

Co-founder & Head Coach of the Junior Athletics (Premier League)

3 → 64

Grew his Regina program 3 to 64 students in three years

Little League WS

Consultant, instructor & guest coach for two national champion teams that reached the Little League World Series

“

I went from struggling at the plate to hitting over .500 — and I hit my first home run. It wasn’t just my swing that changed. It was that I finally believed in myself.

Kelsey Schwartz · Softball player

30 years in the game

The photos are the proof. Real fields, real players, real work.

With Roy Halladay at Rogers Centre — Mizuno Junior Elite Development Camp (MLB, Baseball Canada, Blue Jays & Mizuno).

Ben Fines with Roy Halladay — With Roy Halladay at Rogers Centre — Mizuno Junior Elite Development Camp (MLB, Baseball Canada, Blue Jays & Mizuno).

Ben Fines with Jesse Barfield — With Blue Jays great Jesse Barfield.

Head coach of the first-ever Team Sask women’s baseball team.

Ben with the first Team Sask women's baseball team — Head coach of the first-ever Team Sask women’s baseball team.

Travelled to every corner of the map — growing programs, running coaching clinics and summer camps.

Ben speaking to kids and parents at a camp in Meadow Lake — Travelled to every corner of the map — growing programs, running coaching clinics and summer camps.

Baseball First — humble beginnings: evaluations, team rentals and lessons.

The Gathering Place gym where Ben ran Baseball First — Baseball First — humble beginnings: evaluations, team rentals and lessons.

Another week, another group — every kid leaving with a detailed report card.

A week's group of players holding their report cards — Another week, another group — every kid leaving with a detailed report card.

Ben Fines at 19 in his Team Canada hat — Team Canada, age nineteen.

At bat for Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops.

Ben Fines at bat for TRU in Kamloops — At bat for Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops.

Signing day — hitting live BP for the media at Norbrock Stadium.

Ben hitting BP for the media on signing day at Norbrock Stadium — Signing day — hitting live BP for the media at Norbrock Stadium.

Life on the road — twenty years of clinics and camps.

Ben on the road as a travelling instructor — Life on the road — twenty years of clinics and camps.

Communities that brought the game to their own backyard.

Ben with a community of players who brought instructors to their town — Communities that brought the game to their own backyard.

Head coaching Team Sask — caught mid-game by a pro photographer.

Ben Fines head coaching a Team Sask game — Head coaching Team Sask — caught mid-game by a pro photographer.

The reason it’s about the kids

The game gave him a life. Now it’s about the next generation — starting at home.

Ben Fines and his family — The whole team.

Both my girls grew up on this turf — joining warmups and drills between my classes.

Ben's daughter Ivy as a baby on the turf at RBI — Both my girls grew up on this turf — joining warmups and drills between my classes.

Ben Fines with his daughter Cora — With Cora.

Ben and his wife on their wedding day — Wedding day.

From first fears to resilient for life.

The strikeout, the error, the fear of getting hit — every ballplayer meets them. Most are left to figure it out alone. BatPath iQ teaches the mental game on purpose — to the player, the parent, and the coach, together — so what a kid learns at the plate becomes who they are for life.

And it isn’t only for kids. It’s for the diehards who still lace up on a Tuesday night, the families they’re building, and everyone who develops baseball and softball — because the love of this game, passed down, is the thing that lasts.

Count me in!

40 years in the game.One lesson worth passing on.