Robert Benincasa

Robert Benincasa is a computer-assisted reporting producer in NPR's Investigations Unit.

Since joining NPR in 2008, Benincasa has been reporting on NPR Investigations stories, analyzing data for investigations, and developing data visualizations and interactive applications for NPR.org. He has worked on numerous groundbreaking stories, including an exclusive on the independence level of nursing home residents, the safety of automated aircraft, and a government mandate to produce $1 coins that Americans don't want.

Prior to NPR, Benincasa served as the database editor for the Gannett News Service Washington Bureau for a decade. In 1995, he joined the Burlington VT Free Press as a staff writer.

Benincasa's work at NPR has been recognized by many of journalism's top honors. In 2011, he was part of the team that received a Sigma Delta Chi Award for Excellence in Journalism, a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, Dart Award for Excellence in Coverage of Trauma, George Foster Peabody Award, and a National Journalism Award – Jack R. Howard Award for Excellence in Radio Reporting for work on NPR's story "Seeking Justice for Campus Rapes."

Also in 2011 he received numerous accolades for his contributions to several investigative stories including an Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Coverage of Trauma, an Investigative Reporters & Editors Radio Award, the While House News Photographers Association's Eyes of History Award for multimedia innovation, and George Polk Award.

Since 2008, Benincasa, has served on the faculty of Georgetown University's Master of Professional Studies program in journalism.

Benincasa earned a master's of arts degree in journalism from University of Maryland and a bachelor's of arts in psychology from Villanova University.

American Dreams: Then And Now

4:42 pm

Wed August 15, 2012

A Baseball School For Big League Dreamers

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Credit Chip Litherland for NPR

Ketchum Marsh, a senior from Massachusetts, walks back to the dugout during an intrasquad game at IMG Baseball Academy, where he trains and goes to school.

Credit Chip Litherland for NPR

Marsh will play baseball at Hendrix College in Conway, Ark., next year.

Credit Chip Litherland for NPR

Just 1,200 players are drafted each year — and major league rosters have only 750 active slots.

Credit Chip Litherland for NPR

Ketchum Marsh, a high school senior from Massachusetts, walks back to the dugout during a May 21 intrasquad game at IMG Baseball Academy in Bradenton, Fla., where he trains and goes to school.

Credit Chip Litherland for NPR

World Geography teacher Christoph LeClainche with some of the student-athletes at IMG Academy. IMG students spend half the day in class and half playing baseball.

Credit Chip Litherland for NPR

Marsh started attending IMG in eighth grade. Tuition, room and board for the academic and sports program runs about $70,000 a year.

Credit Chip Litherland for NPR

IMG says it's had 17 players drafted since 2006.

Credit Chip Litherland for NPR

IMG Academy pitching coach Dave Shepard gives pointers to pitcher Cameron Varga.

Credit Chip Litherland for NPR

Marsh warms up during an intrasquad game. His coaches say he has surpassed other players who may have had more athletic ability but lacked his work ethic.

Credit Chip Litherland for NPR

IMG Baseball Academy Director Ken Bolek is a former major and minor league coach.

By Robert Benincasa

Originally published on Wed August 15, 2012 8:11 pm

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If you have ever dreamed of playing big-league baseball, chances are the dream started to fade sometime in high school.

It gradually becomes clear: You won't be starting in Game 7 of the World Series, and tipping your cap after hitting a walk-off homer. So at some point you go from player to fan — watching others chase greatness on the diamond.

But not every baseball dreamer is willing to give up so early. And in Bradenton, Fla., there's a place that lies somewhere between the Little League field and Yankee Stadium.