A former sound stage in Trafford could become a staging area for baseball careers.

All American Baseball Center is converting the old Pinnacle Studios to a baseball arena.

"There are a lot of kids in this region who can play," said Dan Ninemire, a former college baseball coach who is the center's general manager. "But there is a big group that is just instruction-away from the top level."

The extra ingredient is indoor, off-season training.

"I see a lot of kids with good swings, but they don't have strong arms or footwork or baseball instincts," he said. "You get that by training in the off-season. The more you play the better you play."

Pinnacle Studios is ideal. The factory floor is 110 feet by 110 feet. The ceiling is 80 feet high. The walls are lined with sound-absorbing panels that will deaden the pings and echoes of athletes at play, enabling the players to focus on training.

Westinghouse Electric built the factory in the 1970s for testing circuit breakers. Paul Bova and Jeff Cortileso bought the building and the rest of the Westinghouse complex in 1994 and renamed it the Trafford Commerce Center.

A production company rented the testing building for "Kingpin," a comedy featuring Woody Harrelson. Bova and Cortileso formed Pinnacle Studios to build on that success and installed the sound panels and two stages.

Scenes for "The Wonder Boys," "Dogma" and "The Temptations," as well as television commercials, have been filmed there. But the film business dried up, and the building has been vacant for about four years.

Meanwhile, Ninemire was learning the baseball trade. He played college and minor league ball -- The Newark Bandits -- and scouted for the Cleveland Indians. He worked his way up the coaching ranks, most recently as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at the University of Pittsburgh.

As a Pitt coach, he also offered youth baseball clinics and individual instruction.

"Parents in the East [suburbs] have a strong interest in making their kids better players," Ninemire said. "They take their athletics seriously here."

One of his first clients was Robbie Wratcher, then 12, whose dad, Bob Wratcher, is a lawyer active in Monroeville civic affairs.

"That individual training, combined with the physical development at that age, is really beneficial," said Bob Wratcher, who does legal work for the center. "It's a way to improve a kid's skills if baseball is the game he wants to play and he's real serious about it. ... With the indoor thing, you have the ability to do all that in the off-season."

Wratcher knew about Pinnacle Studios and put Ninemire in touch with the owners.

Robbie Wratcher is 16, in the 10th grade at Gateway High School and still plays baseball.

Ninemire hopes to tap into that network of high school and league players and the parents willing to pay for individual instruction and playing time.

The standard membership to the center begins at $125 a year. Private lessons start at $30 per half-hour. The center will offer various clinics, videotaping analysis, indoor leagues, tournaments and travel teams.

(More details about the programs can be seen at www.allamericanbaseballcenter.com.)

The instructors have played college and minor league ball, scouted professionally and coached college teams. They include Eric Ackerman, Brant Colamarino, Matt Desantis, Jeff Minick and Todd Schiffauer.

Ninemire said there are other good indoor programs, like Bianco School of Baseball in Canonsburg, Larry Wayman's X-tra Innings Baseball School in Plum and The Diamond in Cranberry. Schools and universities also have indoor fields, like Pitt's Cost Center, where baseball shares space with other sports.

The All American center will have a 90-foot regulation infield that Ninemire believes will be the largest local indoor playing surface dedicated only to baseball.

"You can play a modified high school game in here," he said. "You can get a fly ball anytime you want. You can long toss anytime you want. That's a big part of young kids' development."

The field will be carpeted with Pro-Grass, a nonabrasive artificial turf. There will be seven batting cages and a bullpen with three pitching mounds.

The administration area will have a party room, lounge and pro shop.

Ninemire would not identify his investors or say how much the center costs to build.

He said it should be ready for business by mid-October, and a grand opening will be held in early November.