Overseas Baseball Podcast

Baseball is the fastest growing sport in New Zealand as numbers have risen from 800 to 6000 in the past three years. Also, the level of play on the national level is rapidly increasing as New Zealand climbed in the world rankings in the past year from unranked to 28th. CEO of Baseball New Zealand, Ryan Flynn, informs us in this episodes of how this exponential growth has opened up opportunities for import baseball players and coaches to take their career to New Zealand. He provides insight into what they are looking for and how you can go about getting a chance to ride this baseball wave to a long term career in baseball on and off the field.

An Interview with Rainer Krankl, President of one of the more successful European baseball clubs Rainer Krankl has been with the Attnang Athletics since 1993 and took over the role as president in 2004. Immediately after Rainer took over as president the organization began to grow rapidly. The Athletics went from a mediocre organization with a backyard park with a couple of beer bench seats to one of Europe’s more successful baseball organizations.

In this episode Owen and I continue where we left off in Episode 6, discussing the opportunities for import players and coaches in Australia. About half way through we take the interview in a direction that is more beneficial to clubs that are looking to take their organization to the next level as Owen shares his experiences as a key person in operations for the professional baseball club the Perth Heat.

Dennis Kelly takes us through his experiences playing baseball in Sweden (Karlskoga Bats), France (Montpellier Barracudas), Australia (Sandringham Royals) and Germany (Mannheim Tornados). If you are lacking in motivation to play baseball overseas, listen to Dennis tell his story which took him from the beaches of Australia to the beaches off the coast of France all within one year. He provides insight on how he was able to see so much of the world while playing baseball and also provides advice on positioning yourself to be able to do the same. Dennis also let’s us in on the details of some of his contracts and the unique contracts that were offered from country to country. Lastly, Dennis does a very good job of comparing the level of ball within these countries.

Podcast episode #9 continues to focus on the various baseball hotbeds in Australia, this time with Brisbane, one of the largest baseball regions in the country. Jeff Tezak spent two years in Austria playing for the Vienna Metrostars and has since taken his game to Brisbane for the past couple of years to play with the Redcliffe Padres Jeff is a true utility player which puts him in high demand with many clubs in Europe and Australia that are a tight budget. Jeff fills us in on the opportunities Brisbane presents, the lifestyle, and of course, the baseball. In a future episode I will interview Brisbane native Scotty Mulhearn and dive more into what Brisbane presents as a place to live in comparison to other Australian baseball destinations. In this interview you will find that baseball in the Australian state leagues are quite a different experience than playing in Europe and the contracts offered also vary in comparison to Europe.

This episode switches things up a bit by focusing on what is probably the most valuable tip for baseball players looking to take their game overseas: use your coaching experience as your ticket or gain coaching experience if you don’t have any. Owen and I discuss the coaching opportunities that are present in Europe and Australia and some unique ways to break in as a coach or player-coach. We dive into some of the challenges you will most likely face as a coach in an environment where perhaps English isn’t the native language, baseball is relatively unknown or where local clubs lack structure in their program. I put Owen on the spot and ask him to give a specific drill he might use to motivate or retain the kids in such places. We discuss how to prepare yourself for a coaching career overseas and how to achieve longevity as a player-coach or coach.

As a compliment to a recent post titles “Top 5 Reasons EU Imports Go Home Early and How to Avoid Them“, I had a short but content rich discussion with Owen Reid on the same Skype session as our last interview about the trial and error of the relationship between professional baseball import players and clubs overseas. We discuss many of the same topics in the post and speculate as to why players are sometimes sent home prior to contract end other than the obvious reason of not making the playoffs. The issue of relationships gone sour in recent years was prevalent in EU baseball and needs to be discussed as I believe there are communication gaps between many European clubs and players and solutions to help smooth out this struggle.

In IBC podcast episode 14, I interview international baseball coach Trevor Rooper and player Scotty Mulhearn. Trevor has coached in Holland, Austria, Sweden , Brisbane (Australia) and now has signed on with a club in Sydney Australia for the 2013-2014 winter. In 2011, Trevor led the Attnang Athletics of Austria to an all time record of 24-4 and most recently coached Stockholm to the 2013 championship title. Trevor gives us detail on the opportunities for import players and coaches in Sweden and Australia and the compensation one can expect. He provides information on the leagues and the clubs within both the Swedish Elite League and the Greater Brisbane Baseball League. Scotty is a native of Brisbane, Australia and plays ball in the same Brisbane league that Trevor coached in. He has also played baseball in Japan, Sweden (Karlskoga) and most recently with the same club Rooper coached in Austria, the Attnang Athletics. Scotty has since signed on for a second season with the Athletics in 2014. Scotty goes i

I am super stoked about this interview with Perth Heat GM Lachlan Dale as we dive into taking a professional baseball career on and off the field to Australia and using it as a fast track to pro ball in the States. We discuss how many roster spots are typically filled within he Australian Baseball League by foreigners and how to go about getting a shot at one of those spots. We also discuss the opportunities for coaching in Australia.

The German Bundesliga Baseball 1 is regarded as the next highest level of European baseball below the big two, Italy and the Netherlands. Rob Herrmann spent 2013 playing for one of the frontrunners in recent years, the Paderborn Untouchables. Rob’s story is an inspirational one as he made his way through hard work and perseverance from D3 college ball to Indy ball, to Australia and finally to Germany (read about his story in a related article). Rob PaderbornRob is living proof that non-drafted players can make their way into top clubs in top European leagues and do some damage while there. Rob hit .333 and threw out more than half of attempted base stealers from his spot behind the dish. Rob has been invited back to play in 2014 after a season ending hand injury kept him on the sidelines during the playoffs. Rob goes into detail about the German Bundesliga, what it was like to play for Paderborn, the compensation, and the networking advantages when signing on with a top club within a given count

The focus of this interview and many future interviews is to extract more information about the lifestyle of the import player or coach living in various cities around Europe. I also try to get more inside info on what the league is like, the clubs within the league and which clubs are the most desirable to play for when considering level of play, location, facilities and of course pay. In this episode, I threw together two separate 10 minute interviews with U.S. players who spent the 2013 summer season in Switzerland and France with the Bern Cardinals and the Beaucaire Chevaliers.

Dana brings us 15 years of European baseball knowledge and sheds a lot of light for those of you looking to take your U.S. pro career to Europe. We talk Dutch, Italian, German and Czech baseball in depth. Dana provides some great tips on how to break in, where to break in, and what to expect. We also dive into the top organizations and baseball destinations in Europe.

In this episode I interview pro baseball player Kris Edwards, the 2012 import pitcher for the Attnang Athletic of Austria. Kris made the most of his European pro debut with the Athletics as he used the opportunity to travel Europe and play the game he loves. Kris’ background Kris played for the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and then ran into some arm troubles and had to have Tommy John surgery. After recovering from Tommy John surgery Kris had three strong seasons with the University of St. Thomas and was part of their 2009 national championship team. He was ranked among the NCAA Division III earned-run average leaders in 2010. In the summer 2010 Kris played with the Green Bay Bullfrogs of the Northwoods League. He went on to sign with the St. Paul Saints of the American Association of Independent Baseball in the summer of 2011 before coming to Austria. In this episode you will hear about Kris’ experience on and off the field and how he was able to take his baseball career overseas.

It was my pleasure to interview Chris, a humble big man standing at 6’10″ (2.09 m), former USC Trojan and soon to be veteran of not only European baseball, but of some of the top baseball Europe has to offer. Chris recently signed for the 2013 season with UVV, a club in the The Honkbal Hoofdklasse, the highest level of professional baseball in the Netherlands. Chris played with the Rouen Huskies of the French Elite league in 2012 where he dominated on the mound, effectively using his unorthodox delivery and his giant body to deceive batters. Chris was named the best pitcher of the French elite final series as he lead his club to their 9th french title in 10 years. He also was a major contributor to the club’s success in the 2012 European cup as they made it to the final four, the first time any French club has done so. Chris’s fondest memories were not of the final four but of the Rotterdam round of the Cup that got them there, a round where he got the win in a huge upset over the DOOR Neptunes, one of the t

Interview topics: - Experience playing for the Rouen Huskies in the French Elite League. - The South Australian Baseball League; import opportunities, level of play. - Owen’s jump to the Australian Baseball League’s Adelaide Bite. - Owen’s experience playing for the French national team in Florida at the September 2012 WBC qualifier and pitching in the dramatic game vs. South Africa. -Owen’s experience pitching against a top Dutch team at the Eurocup final four in 2012.

This podcast episode is an interview with Owen Reid, an international baseball player who has made stops in Austria, New Zealand, and Australia since 2009. Owen has held jobs as a player and most recently in management with Australia’s most successful professional baseball club, the Perth Heat.

This interview with Nick goes into detail about how he took his baseball career to Europe and what others wishing to do the same can expect.