Overseas Baseball Podcast

In October 2013, Jeff Barto decided to get an early start contacting clubs in Europe for the 2014 season. The NCAA division one grad from the Utah Valley University had a number of opportunities quickly pop up soon after creating a profile on the International Baseball Community website. After exchanging a few emails with about 8 different clubs, his inbox dried up and all leads fizzled up. Just before the new year and right around the time when Barto starting wonder if he was going to get another opportunity, a club from second Division Austria made him an offer and he jumped on it. Second division Austria was not the ideal level of competition, but Jeff knew it was a chance for him to harness his coaching skills and get his foot into professional baseball overseas. Upon arriving in Austria, Barto was whisked off to Florence, Italy, where the team spent a long weekend for spring training. When the season finally rolled around, Barto and his young squad found themselves at the top of the standings early on.