Overseas Baseball Podcast

baseballjobsoverseas.com/ New York native Ryan Rupp did not play college baseball but took advantage of his dual citizenship with Austria to get his foot in the door in second division Austria in 2013. From there, he worked hard on his craft and in 2017 he won the Best Pitcher award and his second championship in the first division of Austria with the Attnang Athletics. He also became one of the go-to starters for the Austrian national team. In 2019 he won his third Austrian championship, this time with his new team, the Dornbirn Indians. In recent years, as Ryan approached the age of 30, he struggled with the pressure to start a career off the field and leave baseball behind. He found himself in New York, unhappy and with extreme bouts of anxiety. In this interview, we discuss how he was able to get through that, and the steps he is taking now to enjoy his summers of baseball while also progressing off of the field. Some of the topics discussed in this episode include: The different path of his bas

https://baseballjobsoverseas.com/ In this episode of the International Baseball Community Podcast, I hop on a call with club representatives from around Europe to discuss the current status of the Coronavirus in their country, the effect it has had on their baseball seasons thus far, and any further insight into when the seasons could possibly start. Specifically, I speak with Scotty of Korlarka Praha (Czech Extraliga), Eric of the Bonn Capitals (German Bundesliga), Mauro of T&A San Marino (Italian Series A), David of the Metz Cometz (French First Division), Trevor of the Stockholm Monarchs (Swedish Elite Series), Ron of Neptunus Rotterdam (Dutch Major League A.K.A. Honbal Hoofdklasse) and Andreas of the Attnang Athletics (Baseball League Austria).

David Burns and Jimmy Jensen from Baseball Jobs Overseas discuss how to position yourself for success in receiving offers from clubs overseas and once signed, how to make the most of that opportunity to further your career. This episode is particularly beneficial to those players who have yet to play professional baseball and are looking overseas as a career option but are still looking to play at the highest level possible.

https://baseballjobsoverseas.com/ After a lustrous career as an international import player and coach, Owen Reid decided to go to work for himself as an International Baseball Consultant and Mobile baseball coach. Now settled and based in Singapore, Owen has now traveled to five different continents and 21 countries as a baseball coach including some very unknown baseball markets such as the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, and Kyrgyzstan. His international baseball story began back in 2009, when fresh out of college, Owen signed on with the Vienna Wanderers in Austria as an import player. This led to his first gig as a youth coach the following winter in New Zealand, then in 2010 as a player-coach with another team in Austria, eventually settling in Australia from 2010 through 2014. It is in Australia where Owen's international coaching career really began to take shape after playing and coaching with three different teams, assuming a role with the Perth Heat in player development and

https://baseballjobsoverseas.com/ American born and Wofford College alum, Eric Brenk, has been living and playing baseball in Germany since obtaining his dual citizenship in 2014, only 4 months after graduating from college. Eric not only helped bring home a championship for his Bonn Capitals in 2018, he has also been a major player for the German National Team, most recently at the 2019 European Championships, a stepping stone tournament to the 2020 Olympic Qualifier. Less than an hour from Cologne, Eric lives year-round in Bonn where he is heavily involved in baseball and is currently working for an international company after obtaining his masters in Germany. In this episode, Eric and BBJO founder David Burns discuss the application process for dual citizenship and how having dual citizenship has benefited Eric from a baseball and life standpoint. We also dive into the lifestyle and quality of life when living and playing baseball in Germany.

http://www.baseballjobsoverseas.com There are a large number of baseball players overseas these days looking to take their career overseas with a large variety of backgrounds. Those who may not have the strongest of backgrounds or the strongest of stats, may have to take matters into their own hands to get their foot in the door. Dave and Jimmy tackle that topic in this episode.

The Australian Baseball League has made huge strides in recent years, with the expansion to include a team from Korea and New Zealand in 2018 as well as the signings of former MLB players such Josh Collmenter, Gift Ngoepe and Pete Kozma. The league also featured Japanese NPB stud pitcher Shota Imanaga and some of Europe's top talent in Markus Solbach (GER), Alex Maestri (ITL), and Dwayne Kemp (NED) who all had standout seasons. Rounded out with a number of young affiliated players, top indy pro players, and top Australian talent, you have a very unique professional league that more and more professional players are looking to as a winter option. With that being said, we at Baseball Jobs Overseas receive a lot of inquiries from players wanting to play in the ABL. In this episode, David and Jimmy discuss what it takes to sign in the ABL, and how some players have worked their way into the Australian Baseball League through the state leagues in the past and have gone on to sign affiliated contracts. This epi

http://www.baseballjobsoverseas.com Jimmy Jensen went from cut from his high school baseball team, to All-American, to men's league baseball before he decided to give overseas a try. Little did he know that signing his first overseas contract in 2015 would change his life forever in multiple ways. List to part two of his story, continuing where we left off at the end of his first season on IBC Podcast episode 67

http://www.baseballjobsoverseas.com Baseball New Zealand CEO Ryan Flynn returns for the third time, this time to provide an update on the exciting times going on in the world of baseball in New Zealand, in particular the new Australian Baseball League professional franchise team based in Auckland. Some of the topics discussed in this episode are: Growth of baseball in New Zealand in recent years New Australian Baseball League franchise team, the Auckland Tuatara and what the name means Signing of Josh Collmenter through Baseball Jobs Overseas and the impact of having a marquee player and MLB vet such as Josh on board Opportunity for imports with the Auckland Tuatara (ABL Franchise) and the new ABL roster point system Anticipated growth of baseball New Zealand and how import players and coaches will play a role at the club level Baseball Jobs Overseas role with future importing to New Zealand

In this interview with professional pitcher Arik Sikula, he speaks of his experiences both in Australia and Colombia pitching in the winter and why these experiences helped him improve as a pitcher and an athlete.

Three years ago on IBC Podcast Episode #26 I interviewed Zak Colby who was fresh off of his first season playing independent professional baseball in Japan in the Shikoku Island League. Zak has continued to play there working his way into a foreign recruitment role for the whole league while playing for the Kochi Fighting Dragons. His biggest signing to date was Manny Ramirez who he signed to play for the Fighting Dragons for the 2017 season, to hit fourth behind Zak in the lineup. In this episode Zak tells us all about the league, the recruitment process and what they look for in an import, and finally, the signing of and playing alongside Manny Ramirez.

Recently one of the top pitchers in independent professional baseball decided to give up the lifestyle that comes with playing pro baseball in the U.S., which he said he loves, in order to play club baseball in the Czech Republic which play mostly on weekends. Sound crazy? Soon to be 30 years old, Tim Brown has been playing professional baseball for 8 years now and while still at the top of his game, has decided to play baseball in Europe in 2017. "At this point, I just want to travel and see the world and this is the perfect way to do it," when asked why he has given up the lifestyle of the independent professional baseball player for European baseball which plays on weekends. Tim Brown has had a very successful U.S. independent professional baseball career which includes a no-hitter in the Frontier League. In fact, his multiple seasons of a sub 3.00 era had him labeled in a 2015 article as "One of the best pitchers in independent professional baseball history." Tim claims that a big part of his success

http://www.baseballjobsoverseas.com/e68 Daniel Catalan had a successful college career playing with Holy Name University where hit a very respectable .282 and a very nice OBP in his senior year of .410. He also led HNU in triples in both his seasons there and did not commit a single error in the outfield. Like many talented college graduates, professional teams did not come knocking on his door. So he gave overseas baseball a try and signed up for a profile at the International Baseball Community website. Weeks went by and crickets. Why? Why are overseas clubs also not interested? Daniel surely has a lot to bring to the table and could definitely do well in any league Europe has to offer. The number 1 reason why: he is an outfielder, the position in least demand overseas. In this interview Daniel explains how he earned a spot playing on a club from one of the most visiting cities in Europe, Barcelona and following that how he got to play in the South American Baseball Championship in Buenos Aires, Argentina

http://www.baseballjobsoverseas.com Overseas professional import Jimmy Jensen tells his story how he made his way up from cut from his high school baseball team travelling the world playing baseball.

Josh Wyant grew up playing baseball in North Carolina and was never the standout player but always had a passion for the game and worked hard at getting better. He was a three sport athlete between cross country, baseball and swimming and as college grew closer, he was told his best shot was at running. In his senior year of high school he moved to a new high school and was given the opportunity to improve himself to the level he needed through a coach who did more for him in that one season than any other coach in his life, Coach Pete Hardee. Between Josh's hard work and dedication and Coach Hardee's guidance, he was able to pursue a college baseball career with stops at Winston Salem State,Wilkes Community College and LeMoyne Owen College. Although these college baseball programs were within some of the lowest ranked conferences in NCAA baseball, Josh was able to put up some good numbers, even when playing some of the top schools in the nation during non conference games. "Never in my life was I a highly

In 1995 Ryan Schurman was a 10th round draft pick of the Atlanta Braves. Twenty years later he is married with a baby boy and living in Germany and coaches cricket. Ryan is another remarkable story of how playing baseball overseas can not only be a way of extending a playing career, but also a life changing experience.

In 2012, Tanner Leighton, the #4 ranked NAIA prospect in the country from The Masters College in California, was one of many players in the independent ball system who had been in contact with scouts during his college tenure, yet had no luck come June. After a season of Independent ball, playing with both the Washington Wild Things and London Rippers, Leighton went to play winter ball in Australia for the Melville Braves of Perth. Tanner then spent the 2013 summer season playing with the Solingen Alligators of the German Bundesliga before signing again to play a second season in Australia. However, Tanner was pulled aside by Australian customs officials upon his return and spent two days in a detention centre as he did not have the proper visa to return for a second year. The end result was a three year ban from Australia which left Tanner without an baseball option for the next three winters. Tanner returned to Germany for a second season with the Alligators, this time leading them to a German Championship

Will Thorp grew up playing baseball in British Columbia, Canada where he also started his college career at a local junior college. After a successful freshman year, he earned a chance to play at Lewis-Clark State College, one of the top NAIA baseball programs. In 2014, upon graduating from LC, Will decided to hang up his cleats. "I had finished up college on a rough note. My 4 years at LC taught me a ton about myself, how to handle situations, how to look at the game in a complete different view and be a warrior. Unfortunately I could never prove myself to the coaches offensively and had minimal ABs in my years there." Will did what many young western Canadians do, give in to the temptation to earn big bucks and went to work in the oil rigs up north. With not much to do other than work and sleep over the course of a few months, Will had plenty of time to dream about baseball. It is thus no surprise that without hesitation Will jumped on an opportunity presented to him by an old teammate to go play baseball

For the 2015-2016 winter season, there were a total of nine IBC members sign contracts in the Capital Territory State League based in Canberra, Australia. This is one of six state leagues in Australia that regularly import baseball players from abroad. This interview is with Graham Vickers, the president of the Ainslie Bears, a club who have utilized the website to import players over the past couple of seasons. Here is an earlier interview from 2015 with Andrew Medeiros, an IBC member and former Ainslie Bear from the 2014-2015 season. Between the two interviews you can get a good idea of what the life of a baseball import to Canberra may be like on and off the field.

Sam Siddall is a graduate from the Midland University (NAIA) where he spent three years as a relief pitcher with limited action. Post college, in 2013, he was playing in a mens league in Alberta, Canada when a friend presented him with an opportunity to coach youth in Australia after receiving the opportunity himself and having to decline. Sam had some coaching experience but no experience as a head coach at the time. He jumped on the opportunity and soon found himself in Adelaide, Australia with the Northern Districts Reds coaching the U17 and U15 teams while playing for their second division mens team.....