Farmingdale will now have its own expert baseball training facility. Whether you hope to make your major league dreams a reality or you simply want to improve your baseball skills, Joe Francisco may be your man.

Francisco, a former Atlanta Braves farm division center fielder, is opening The Performance Factory, a baseball training facility located in Farmingdale. Francisco was looking for a central location on Long Island that was easily accessible from both Queens, where he has trained players, and the eastern end of Long Island.

"My whole life I was pretty much geared to play baseball," Francisco said.

Growing up Francisco had always worked hard. From when he was a child until well into his career, the work had paid off for him. As a result, he brings an impressive list of achievements along with him to Farmingdale. Francisco is a former High School New York City Player-of-the-Year, Collegiate All-American and played center field for Major League Baseball's Atlanta Braves organization in 2000.

Francisco said his training facility is "geared toward kids who want to take their game to the next level." He wants to "take an individual approach with each kid and get them to play at their maximum potential."

At the facility, Francisco offers training for skills needed in the game, such as agility, speed, strength, hitting lessons, pitching lessons, video analysis, vision enhancement, foot speed, linear speed and hand strength. He even offers bungee resistance training for developing side to side quickness in fielding a baseball. He also has two 35-yard tracks inside his facility.

"It's going to be state-of-the-art," Francisco said.

If you are wondering whether Francisco's training instructions can be effective, you only have to look at his track record on helping other players develop their game. To his credit he has trained two Nassau County high school league Players of the Year and one Suffolk County high school league Player of the Year. He has also trained two of New York state's list of top ten prospects for the Major League Baseball draft. The first draft prospect Francisco trained holds the third ranked position in the state and plays for St. John's University while the second holds the fourth ranked position on the list in the state and plays for the University of North Carolina. Both of these players are projected to be picked high in the draft.

Francisco said his most rewarding feeling is when he receives phone calls from kids he has trained telling him 'Joe I hit a home run, Joe I made All Conference or I made Player of the Year.' He pointed out that this is a good time of the year because "its when all the awards and accolades are given out." Not everyone will achieve these goals but Francisco said "it's not about that, its about getting kids and young adults to get the most out of themselves, whether it's to get a couple of hits in a game or whether it's to get drafted."

Francisco attributes his success and winning attitude to his father, John Francisco.

"My father was a real good ballplayer," Francisco explained. "My father poured all of his knowledge into me."

As a child growing up in Queens Francisco would do sprints across the street late at night.

He keeps a picture from 2001 of his father and himself hanging in his office. Sadly, Francisco's father lost his battle with cancer at the age of 52.

"Now he looks over me, he was my big influence" he said. "He really trained me, he took me as far as he could and he got to see me play professional baseball."

When speaking with Francisco, he gives you the sense of an insider's perspective in the world of baseball training that he has picked up from people in the major leagues.

"They have what they call the five o'clock hitter," he said. "This is the guy who kills the ball in batting practice at five o'clock, and at game time he doesn't hit the ball. What I try to do is get them out of that and make everything game-like. I work the middle of the swing, the core of the swing, the meat and potatoes of getting to the ball and getting through the ball."

Francisco has also added to his staff's roster Sean Farrell, a former New York Mets pitcher. He will be the facilities full time pitching instructor.

The Performance Factory is currently operating and Francisco plans to have a grand opening on June 18-19, which fittingly is Father's Day weekend. For more information call 631-777-7740 or visit www.performancefactorybaseball.com. The facility is located at 931A Conklin St. in Farmingdale on the eastern side of the building directly across the street from the East Farmingdale Fire Department.