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.