Baseball Australia is proud to announce the latest group of athletes heading to the 2018 Spring Training Program, which gives 30 young Australians the chance to gain exposure and experience in the United States.
The delegation will be based in Phoenix, Arizona between 6-15 April where they will participate in three games as well as showcasing their skills to a multitude of professional and college scouts.
The 30-man squad is highlighted by four U18 World Cup members (Lochlan Southee, Rixon Wingrove, Jake Green & Brodie Cooper-Vassalakis) as well as the reigning MVPs in the Australian U16 (Travis Bazzana) and U18 (Curtis Mead) Youth Championships.
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Williams believes that the emphasis on the continuous development of Australian athletes remains the highest priority.
“The experiences on this trip are designed to provide context of what it’s actually like to compete in college or professional baseball.”
“It’s also designed to equip them with data to determine where they currently are performance wise and baseline to work from for further improvement.”
The selection process for the 30 athletes on this trip was conducted through information provided by state high performance managers, as well as professional scouts that evaluated players at the 2018 Australian Youth Championship.
The coaching staff in attendance brings a multitude of experience both domestically and internationally, with three former MLB stars (David Nilsson, Jim Colborn, Josh Spence) and a number of State High Performance Managers making the trip.
The squad will also be working closely with Driveline, which will feature the production of high level video analysis to aid the implementation of data driven improvement programs.
Glenn Williams believes the benefits of this tour reach far beyond just the 30 athletes selected.
“Many of the staff in attendance run their state’s respective high performance programs.”
“I have no doubt this trip will aid the execution of higher level training methods within their relevant state based programming.”
Stay tuned for updates from the team's 10-day experience.
Head of delegation: Glenn Williams
Coach: Jason Pospishil
Coach: Chris Adamson
Coach: David Nilsson
Coach: Shayne Watson
Coach: Damian Shanahan
Coach: Jim Colborn
Coach: Josh Spence
Executive Officer: Scott Hillier