The Newburgh Red Storm are growing.
The city of Newburgh-based organization, which fielded one team in its first four seasons, including the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season, the Red Storm will expand to three youth baseball teams in 2021.
In addition to the 16U team, the Red Storm exited the fall season and came into the offseason looking to add both a 14U and a 15U team. They’ve created the 15U team, but within the last few weeks, the possibility to start an 11U team came out of left field.
Mike Turselli had a kid in the age 11U age group that was interested. When Joel Fuentes, who has been coaching the Red Storm since their inception with his brother, Jeremy, said they didn’t have a team, Turselli reassured him that they could find the players.
“He has vast knowledge and is a baseball junkie,” Joel Fuentes said. “We’re really excited to add him into the program and we’re excited about what’s going to happen with that 11U group.”

As of Jan. 20, the Red Storm’s 11U team had nine players and Fuentes said they’d like to get at least three or four more players to fill the roster. Overall, the Red Storm tries to keep the rosters on the smaller side to make sure everyone gets the opportunity to play.
“Playing time is important,” Fuentes said. “When you’re No. 15 or 16 on a great team, it’s tough to pay and not play.”
Unlike some travel programs, the Red Storm are not necessarily searching for all-star players, but they’ll allow any player who has an interest work out for them. Their goal for the Fuentes brothers has always been about teaching the game and trying to foster the love for the game that they have.
“If you’re an all-star, that’s wonderful,” Fuentes said. “But we also want that that player that wants to try it out, or that maybe is an athlete that played baseball. It’s not too late at 11 to start. Obviously, you’re behind, but it’s not too late and we have coaches that will take the time with that player.”
Having two other teams helps the Red Storm solve a problem that they encountered when half the team aged out of the program after the 2020 season: filling the roster at an advanced age, where players already have a program they’ve been part of for a while.
The 16U team entered the 2020-21 offseason with a returning core of six players and they found six players to fill out the roster. As the years go by, the 11U players can grow into older teams and advance through the age brackets and flow from one level to the next to give the program a sense of continuity.
“That’s exactly what we’re looking for,” Fuentes said. “It’s stressful to recruit. You’d rather have a pipeline and that’s our end goal.”
There was some initial concern that adding two teams in one offseason could put some strain on the program.
“When you’re growing fast, you’re always making sure everything is working,” Fuentes said. “It’s more of an excitement of taking us to another level.”