Silver Sluggers Academy is a baseball and softball training academy and travel team organization based out of Madison, WI. Founded and Directed by former major league player Brad Woodall, our philosophy is to instill the foundation of work ethic and knowledge of the game for every player to understand what it takes to have success on (and off) the field.  We focus on the the complete player, developing physically skilled and mentally prepared athletes.  

Our company was founded through a graduate school contest called the Entrepreneurial Challenge. During Brad Woodall's time in the UW-Madison MBA program, an Entrepreneurship professor gave each student $20 to start a business. That $20 was used to rent an indoor basketball court in January to train one player for one hour on pitching fundamentals. Word of mouth spread and the one player turned into dozens of players by the end of the semester. Brad won the entrepreneurship challenge and Woodall Baseball Academy was born. 

To this day, our philosophy is that our reputation is built on how we train and mentor players. Silver Sluggers Academy has grown to one of the top baseball and softball training academies in Wisconsin, with year around instruction, camps, clinics, and one of the top fall leagues in Wisconsin. 

Our Silver Sluggers Baseball and Sluggers Softball travel teams, clinics and 1-1 instruction have one overarching philosophy.  Our goal is to train the player to understand the correlation between work ethic and success, and to teach our players to embrace the challenges that come with playing sports at a high level. Through prioritizing work ethic and embracing challenges, our players learn the recipe for improvement and success.

Our teams train throughout the year in state of the art facilities, and compete in competitive tournaments around the Midwest. Our ultimate goal is to prepare players for success at the high school and college level…in the classroom and on the field.

We pride ourselves on having the best Student-Athletes (not Athlete-Students), who strive to be the best on and off the field. We preach the importance of good grades, learning, and putting forth best efforts in the classroom. We teach professional baseball fundamentals and skills, while providing a safe learning environment.

Brad Woodall is the owner, and director of player and coach development at Silver Sluggers Academy. Brad’s career includes 10 years as a professional player (Atlanta Braves, Milwaukee Brewers, Chicago Cubs) and 4 years as coach (Tampa Bay Rays, Madison College). Brad was a 5-year major league pitcher, and a member of one of the best pitching staffs in MLB history with the World Series Champion Atlanta Braves (1995). Numerous hall-of-famers shaped Brad’s playing career and coaching philosophy.

Brad attended the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill, graduated with an economics degree, and was an All-ACC Pitcher, Outfielder, and First Baseman. He was an integral part of the UNC team that played in the 1989 College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.

For over 30 years, Brad has mentored athletes all over the world, 

motivating and inspiring players to become better players through hard work and preparation. He has written, “A Parent’s Guide to Pitching.” He created “Pitch Like the Pros; Mechanics, Skills and Drills” instructional DVD and has authored numerous articles for baseball publications. Brad is a TV color analyst for professional, collegiate, and high school baseball games, and a baseball analyst for local sports radio stations in Wisconsin.

Brad attended the UW-Madison Graduate School of Business, receiving a degree in Entrepreneurial Management in 2005.