Even in the second week of December, there is still plenty of baseball being played and discussed around the globe.
The East Africa baseball championship begins, but scores are conflicting and difficult to find (tweets).
Pakistan defeats India, 11-2, in the Dubai Cup, though the other game is not reported (tweet).
Our colleague @theroonba found scores from the East African Baseball (and Softball) Championship:
Unfortunately, Kenya and Uganda could not agree on who to crown as East African champion after rain, rescheduling, and catering all prove to be major issues.
Zambia announced plans for another university team in the country (tweet), the fourth to be developped (tweet).
The Don’t Blink Home Run Derby was announced for January 6 in the Bahamas, with multiple Great Britain National Team members participating (tweet). Meanwhile, Bahamanian Keithron Moss signs with the Rangers (tweet). Bahamian D’Vaughn Knowles inked a contract a day later (tweet).
The Central American Games started on December 12, though we struggled to find information ahead of time (tweet). Harold Arauz, who we previewed a couple weeks ago, was dominant in an 11-1 Panamá victory to open the Games (tweet). The only major leaguer in the tournament is the Royals’ Cheslor Cuthbert.
We live-tweeted the nightcap on Day 1 (tweet) and profiled top Red Sox prospect Roniel Raudes, on the roster for Nicaragua (tweet). Our colleagues at @GOCPBL helped us out with video of a very unusual batting stance from the game as well (tweet). We also offered a preview for Nicaragua and Guatemala on Day 2 (link) along with Nicaragua and Honduras a day later (link), with the Dodgers’ Leonardo Crawford the top prospect. We also wrapped up Day 1 (tweet), Day 2 (link) and Day 3 (link). After much searching, we even found a roster for Guatemala (tweet), Panamá (tweet), and Nicaragua (tweet), offering previews of each one.
The Netherlands’ Roger Bernadina took home a KBO Gold Glove, had a 20-20 season, and won the title with the KIA Tigers (tweet).
A Caribbean umpiring course included trainees from Jamaica, the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, and the Dominican Republic (tweet).
Another international tournament started on December 14, with Hong Kong hosting its seventh International Baseball Open. We previewed the games, which were originally meant to have Nepal taking part (link).
Martin Cervenka, Czech Republic’s top catcher, was taken by the Orioles from the Giants in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 Draft (tweet). Alberto Mineo, who only recently re-signed with the Cubs, was drafted by the Blue Jays (tweet). Víctor Reyes was taken in the major league portion of the draft and we offered some photos of him in Double-A this year (tweet).
Another Czech, Martin Mužík, was named an NJCAA Division II Second Team All-American. He was one of our Under-23 European Championship Top Prospects (tweet).
Previous articles in this series include:
1-7 December (link)
15-30 November (link)
1-14 November (link)
15-31 October (link)
1-14 October (link)
Month of September (link)
27 August-2 September (link)
20-26 August (link)
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