The Bat Factory building looked ready on Aug. 25, 2025. In the background, the headquarters of Baldwin General Contracting, which remodeled the former warehouse.
Off and on, the corner of Santiam Road and Main Street has been in the Albany news for decades. Now its transformation is complete, from the site of a historic church to the creation of a type of business the town has not seen before.
Actually, the former site of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church (before it was moved in 2021) is now a nicely landscaped parking lot, including a vast stormwater swale, serving the new business, the C&C Bat Factory.
The two C’s stand for Carlos Carapinha and Chris Reese, the owners who created this business to provide indoor batting cages and equipment where young ballplayers from around the mid-valley can train year round.
Baldwin General Contracting has remodeled the building at 503 Main St. S.E., behind the former church site, turning the former warehouse into five batting cages along with retail space and related facilities.
Baldwin gave the exterior a completely new look, as you can see in the photo. Gone is any resemblance to the drab warehouse facade that used to be there.
I stopped at the location after hours on a bike ride this week, and I wondered if the Bat Factory was already open.
Not quite yet, Carapinha told me in a text message when I asked Thursday. They were still waiting for a certificate of occupancy from the city of Albany.
In reply to other questions, he provided this summary:
“We currently do have about 50 members already signed up ready to go soon as we are open. The GM of the facility is Scio native Ashton Zeiher [who] played softball at Oregon State. We currently have 4 employees and plan to hire more when we open. We have 7 hitting lanes with a bat demo area. Two Fungoman machines that do softball and baseball along with slow pitch. One PX3 Softball simulator and two baseball. Every lane has HitTrax. We will offer all types of training with local talent and have virtual hitting leagues. We will sell all major brand equipment, Rawlings, Wilson’s, Easton, DeMarini, Evo Shield, and a whole lot more. We are currently working on a recovery center and will have a cryo machine to help with arm care and therapy.”
I suppose ballplayers know what all those terms mean, even if “PX3 simulator” and the like are Greek to me.
The C&C Bat Factory has a website where you can find out more, including fees and hours. Go ahead and check it out. (hh)
Thanks for this story, Hasso. A Scio native being the general manager warms the cockles of my heart. Scio at one time (until the 1920s) was once the site of the Linn County Fair and was founded before Oregon was a state. Giving baseball and softball a boost is a good thing.
Building looks nice! But traffic safety could be improved if was easier to see traffic coming from Santiam Rd when you’re on Main St. The fence around the drain blocks the view and it needs to be lower or more transparent.