Cardinals Players, Coaches Targeted in Armed Robbery at Dominican Republic Academy

Players and coaches in the St. Louis Cardinals organization were reportedly robbed at gunpoint at the team's academy in the Dominican Republic on Friday.

According to MLB insider Héctor Gómez, armed men broke into the Cardinals' academy and robbed money and jewelry from players after taking them out of their rooms and holding coaches at gunpoint.

Per Gómez, the Cleveland Guardians and Miami Marlins have also been robbed by armed men in the Dominican Republic in recent weeks.

Per Bob Nightengale of USA Today, Cardinals president John Mozeliak released a statement regarding the robbery, saying: "This was scary on many fronts. Our players and staff were shaken up but not harmed. No one was injured, and we will reassess our security provisions immediately."

Gómez additionally reported that while past robberies have seen the perpetrators take only baseball equipment, that has changed recently.

Now, armed men are reportedly raiding MLB team academies in the Dominican Republic and taking cash, as well as other valuables from safes.

The Cards' academy is located in Boca Chica, and local authorities are investigating the robbery, which took place Friday in the early-morning hours, per Reggie Lee of Fox 2.

The Cardinals have long been entrenched in the D.R., as they own a Dominican Summer League team named the DSL Cardinals and have been affiliated with them since 1996.

Over the past couple of decades, the Cardinals have scouted and signed many high-profile Dominican players. They drafted future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols, who was raised in Santo Domingo.