Baseball Victoria is currently looking for coaches to work in Player Development within the ACES Baseball Academies for junior boys and girls and senior men and women.
The Academy forms an integral part of Baseball Australia’s High Performance Pathway and provides aspiring juniors and seniors with avenues to pursue a higher level of coaching and facilitation that might not be available to them at their domestic club. The Academy is looking for experienced coaches to work in various programs over the winter season in a guidance and mentor capacity.
Interested coaches should get in touch with High Performance Manager Damian Shanahan
Email: Damian.shanahan@baseballvictoria.com.au
Mobile: 0419466394
Baseball Victoria are looking for a Financial Coordinator to join their team!
Applicants should have accounting experience and ideally some knowledge of MYOB. Duties will include payroll, supporting the Board's Financial Director and budget preparation among other things.
Please submit a cover letter and resume to justin.huber@baseballvictoria.com.au, applications close 19th May 2018.
For more information, follow this link;
Appointment of Digital Media and Communications Coordinator
Baseball Victoria are happy to announce the appointment of Lisa Mclellan to the role of Digital Media and Communications Coordinator. Lisa grew up playing for the Footscray Baseball Club and spent time working with the Melbourne Aces in different capacities, most notably on the live streaming of home games. She brings experience in a variety of different media forms to the role, including video content and social platforms. Lisa will be providing social media content for Baseball Victoria for both domestic and tournament competitions and is looking forward to both engaging further with the local baseball community and helping baseball broaden its profile with a wider audience.
Any enquiries or requests for content can be sent to Lisa.mclellan@baseballvictoria.com.au.
Welcome aboard, Lisa.
Last month, 30 of the best and brightest prospects in Australian baseball travelled to Phoenix, AZ and gave their all in a arduous 10 day program, which introduced many to the rigours of professional/collegiate baseball.
A multitude of college and professional scouts were present for the team’s workouts, as well as four games against high quality opposition.
Fantastic experience over the weekend for our crew on the Baseball Australia Spring Training Tour!
The boys headed to @GCU_Baseball to take in a game, which feature @BaseballNSW star Coen Wynne!
Wynne threw a couple of innings and caught up with the crew after the game! pic.twitter.com/9auesWHDHy
— Baseball Australia (@BaseballAust) April 8, 2018
Fantastic experience over the weekend for our crew on the Baseball Australia Spring Training Tour!
The boys headed to @GCU_Baseball to take in a game, which feature @BaseballNSW star Coen Wynne!
Wynne threw a couple of innings and caught up with the crew after the game! pic.twitter.com/9auesWHDHy
Tight losses against professional teams from Kansas City, Chicago and Seattle proved the group of predominantly unsigned Australians could match it with some of the world’s best, but the highlight on-field was an eight run shutout win against an Arizona Pro Camp team.
The pitching staff shone from the get-go, with Josh Pearl, Clayton Campbell (NSW), Jack Waters, Maxim Watson (QLD) and Will Sherriff (WA) combining for a two-hit shutout.
Offensively Brock Wells (VIC) nailed two hits, while recent Philadelphia Phillies signee Rixon Wingrove (NSWC) nailed a triple.
Victoria’s Blake Townsend had two excellent outings, tossing four shutout innings across two games against professional athletes.
One individual highlight for the team was facing MLB veteran Jayson Werth, who has hit 229 MLB homers in his 15 year big league career.
Victoria’s Liam Evans got Werth to fly out, while the ACT’s Jake Green managed to fool Werth on a breaking ball, striking the MLB veteran out.
It’s not everyday you can strike one out either Jake Green from the ACT punches out Werth! pic.twitter.com/pQbr1XNkKK
Head of Delegation Glenn Williams said the team’s efforts off the field were equally as impressive.
“The players did an excellent job throughout the trip,” Williams said.
“We had plenty of compliments on the way they went about their business, the way they competed against pro clubs and the way they carried themselves off field.”
A multitude of developments were made off the field too, with Driveline Baseball again featuring heavily in the development of all athletes.
“Using Driveline was fantastic,” Williams said.
“The team spent a lot of time with the Driveline crew, with the players and staff excited to use the information gathered to implement into their high performance programs in Australia.”
Since the program concluded last month, Rixon Wingrove and Blake Townsend have signed professional contracts with the Philadelphia Phillies and Seattle Mariners respectively.
The makeup of the Australian Baseball League for the 2018/19 season will be confirmed by the 31st of May, according to Baseball Australia CEO Cam Vale.
Following the announcements regarding the Sydney Blue Sox and Canberra Cavalry ownership, Vale has provided the following statement regarding the remainder of the process;
Interest in all six existing Australian Baseball League clubs has been excellent, and we are continually progressing discussions with the four remaining teams (Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide), whose licensing details for the 2018/19 season have yet to be confirmed.
By May 31, we intend to reveal the structure of the 2018/19 ABL season, which will be quickly followed by publication of the rules, broadcast information and the 2018/19 schedule.
As detailed in our original announcement, our intention for the 2018/19 ABL season is an eight team league. However this is not yet certain and a range of other possibilities will need to be considered if all teams aren't successfully licenced.
While the finalisation of the four remaining Australian teams is a key priority, we also have held high-level discussions with several international parties who have expressed serious interest in joining the ABL as expansion teams.
A team in New Zealand is a high priority as is an additional international team based in regional Australia.
We will announce more details on possible future expansion when we confirm the 2018/2019 teams.
This process has been exponentially positive for Australian baseball in showing the interest both in the sport from both here in Australia and overseas. Acknowledging that it can be frustrating for fans that it is taking a little longer than first planned, we believe that this is setting the ABL up for the next decade to be a significant and reputable Australian and International league.
There are now two teams secured for the 2018/19 ABL season, as the Canberra Cavalry announced their ownership details this morning.
Current Cavalry executives Dan Amodio and Donn McMichael will head up an ownership group consisting of local community member investors.
The Cavalry are the second team to detail their 2018/19 ownership plans, following the Sydney Blue Sox announcing Adam Dobb as the team's licensee last week.
Amodio focused on the ever-growing Cavalry community as one of the driving forces behind their decision.
"The vision of our ownership group is to keep giving back to this community of people who have built this club into what it has become," Amodio said.
"Our members, staff, sponsors, players and coaches, and everyone else in the Cavalry community have created a very special energy around this club."
Baseball Australia CEO Cam Vale believes the community focus of the Cavalry's ownership group will be key to their continued success.
"Both Dan and Donn have an in-depth understanding of Canberra's baseball community," Vale said.
"That experience coupled with their professional and personal experience will ensure the Cavalry thrive both on and off the field."
Vale suggested more announcement were imminent.
"On Friday 4 May, we will reveal details on when fans can expect more announcements regarding their club's situation."
"We are having constant discussions with interested parties from all over the world, and we look forward to disclosing more information soon."
Stay tuned tomorrow as Andrew Reynolds of theabl.com.au sits down with Dan to discuss what led to the formation of the ownership group and what to expect from the ballpark renovations in Narrabundah.
Baseball Australia are proud to announce Jo Heighway as the newest member of the Baseball Australia Board.
Jo brings a wealth of experience from the finance sector, as well as extensive expertise at executive board level.
More recently, Jo was honoured with the top prize at the 2017 Women in Finance Awards, as well as Innovator of the Year, and Accountant of the Year.
Baseball Australia President David Hynes believes Jo possesses a high level of skills and expertise in a key focus area.
“The importance of a finance director on the board cannot be understated,” Hynes said.
“Jo is a well-credentialed and knowledgeable professional who will add significant benefits to our board.”
The Australian Baseball League took a giant leap towards the 2018/19 season today, as Adam Dobb was announced as the license owner of the Sydney Blue Sox.
The Sydney Blue Sox are the first of the six existing ABL clubs to announce ownership details, as they revealed Dobb as the license owner via sydneybluesox.com.au this morning.
Speaking about his ideas for the Blue Sox, Dobb outlined fan engagement as a key to the team’s success.
"I really want to be a part of the turnaround of Sydney," Dobb said.
"Fan engagement is crucial to our development as an organisation, and we will focus on giving back to the fans as much as possible."
"We want to make this everyone's team, not just my team."
Baseball Australia CEO Cam Vale is excited to add another passionate local to the ABL family.
“Adam will be a leader to the Blue Sox,” Vale said.
“He has unbridled passion for Baseball at all levels, and brings innovative and achievable ideas to ensure the success of the Sox both on and off the field.”
When asked about future ownership announcements, Vale suggested more were imminent.
“The second announcement regarding ownership will occur early next week,” he said.
“This is an exciting and historic time for the ABL, and fans have every right to be eager for next season to begin.”
Stay tuned tomorrow as Andrew Reynolds of theabl.com.au sits down with Adam to discuss his vision for the Blue Sox, how important it is to have a winning product in Sydney and much more.
Australia has been drawn alongside powerhouse Japan and two-time defending champions Cuba at the upcoming 2018 U15 World Cup in Panama.
As well as Japan and Cuba, Australia will face the Netherlands, South Africa, and the Dominican Republic, with the top three teams progressing to the Super Round.
Australia qualified for the U15 World Cup after defeating New Zealand in two hard-fought games in Auckland earlier this year.
The WBSC yesterday announced the groups for the 12-team tournament, which gets underway in Panama City on August 10.
Australia picked up wins against South Korea and New Zealand at the 2016 U15 World Cup, with a narrow loss to eventual champions Cuba displaying Australia’s ability to match it with the best in the world.
Stay tuned for a full schedule release, as well as broadcast information.