Baseball has developed unevenly across Asia, with established professional systems in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan alongside newer markets such as China. During the 2010s, China saw greater investment in baseball facilities and youth development. Major League Baseball reported in December 2017 that more than 80 Chinese colleges and universities had baseball teams, twice the number recorded six years earlier. More than 40 new baseball facilities had also been built during the previous year. This growth formed part of the market in which D-BAT began its international expansion. The Texas company had built its business around indoor baseball and softball academies, training programs, and equipment sales before seeking opportunities outside the United States.
Cade Griffis and Kyle Griffis became central to D-BAT’s first international expansion in 2017. On March 31 that year, Cade Griffis, the company’s chief executive officer, and Kyle Griffis, its vice president, signed an agreement with Douglas Sports and Culture, a Beijing-based sports company. The agreement gave Douglas Sports and Culture the right to open 10 D-BAT locations in China, beginning in the greater Beijing area. D Magazine reported the agreement on April 19, 2017, describing it as D-BAT’s first move into an international market. At the time, the company operated 40 U.S. academies and had franchise agreements for another 22 locations. The China agreement therefore came during a period of rapid domestic expansion.
China was selected as the company’s first international market while baseball participation and infrastructure were developing there. The 2017 agreement was not presented as a simple transfer of an American franchise to another country. D-BAT planned to use Chinese partners while keeping important parts of its training system connected to its Dallas operation. Coaches intended for the Chinese academies would first receive training at D-BAT facilities in Dallas. They would then work in China under one-year contracts. The plan also called for the academies to retain a common visual identity. Reporting at the time said the facilities would use similar layouts and designs to those found in the United States, while locations were expected to be placed mainly in shopping malls.
The initial Chinese agreement focused on Beijing, but D-BAT identified several other markets as possible destinations. Griffis told D Magazine that the company was considering Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen after its first planned Beijing locations. Other potential international markets included Taiwan, South Korea, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Canada. The company did not present these markets as completed expansions. They were described as future opportunities if the Chinese operation developed as expected. The distinction is important because the 2017 reporting documented agreements and plans rather than a completed network of 10 Chinese academies. D-BAT’s international strategy at that stage was therefore exploratory, with China serving as its first planned entry point outside the United States.
The Chinese market also differed from the American market in the level of baseball infrastructure available to young players. D-BAT’s existing model combined indoor batting cages, coaching, and equipment within dedicated academies. Its average customer in 2017 was about 12 years old, according to a company article republished by the Dallas Business Journal. The same report said D-BAT also served older players who used its facilities for batting practice. For China, the company planned to bring American coaches into the new academies after training them in Dallas. This approach provided a direct link between the instruction developed in the United States and the programs planned for Chinese customers, without claiming that the two markets had identical sporting cultures.
The expansion also occurred while D-BAT was growing rapidly at home. The Dallas Business Journal reported that D-BAT generated $18 million in revenue across 32 U.S. sites in 2016. By June 2017, the company had 38 locations and 41 territories sold, according to the same report. Griffis projected 100 percent revenue growth for 2017. D Magazine separately reported that Griffis viewed the company as having grown from about $2 million in revenue six years earlier to about $30 million in 2017. These figures come from contemporary reports and statements attributed to Griffis, so they describe the company’s reported financial position rather than independently audited results. The China agreement therefore followed several years of substantial domestic franchise growth.
D-BAT subsequently established a physical presence in China. Chinese media reported that the first D-BAT academy in the country opened at New Century Global Center in Chengdu on November 10, 2018. A March 2019 report stated that D-BAT had begun preparations for a Beijing location and had established or announced operations involving Chengdu, Tianjin, Chongqing, Kunming and Jinan. The same report said the company had begun planning its Chinese presence in 2017. These reports show that the international strategy moved beyond the original Beijing agreement and developed into a broader Chinese operation. They also demonstrate why the 2017 announcement should be treated as the starting point of the expansion rather than evidence that all 10 proposed Beijing locations opened.
The China expansion also reflected the structure of D-BAT’s broader business. The company operated academies that combined training with equipment sales, while its franchise system allowed local operators to establish facilities under the D-BAT name. Its international plan applied a similar principle by working with a local Chinese partner while retaining control over coach preparation and key aspects of the academy format. D-BAT also considered other countries after entering China, although the available contemporary sources do not establish that all of those proposed markets became operating locations. The evidence instead shows a measured sequence: domestic franchising created the base, the 2017 agreement opened an international route, and Chinese academies followed in 2018 and 2019.
The international expansion of D-BAT under Cade Griffis and Kyle Griffis therefore developed through several identifiable stages. The company first built a franchise network in the United States, then signed its March 2017 agreement with Douglas Sports and Culture for 10 proposed Chinese locations. Its plan used Dallas-based coach training, local Chinese operation, and a shared facility identity. The first reported Chinese academy opened in Chengdu in November 2018, followed by further reported activity in several Chinese cities.
The available record supports describing China as D-BAT’s first international expansion and as an important step beyond its American franchise network. It does not, however, support broader claims that the company became a major international baseball authority. The documented expansion remains the stronger measure of its international reach. Cade Griffis and Kyle Griffis were the executives associated with this stage of D-BAT’s development.
