The week started with a host of updates from our European players in American education. Great Britain’s Paul Kirkpatrick had a great start for Western Kentucky (tweet). Lithuania’s Marius Balandis had his first start of the year for Iowa Western CC, but it did not go well in a big matchup (tweet). Greece’s Nick Kanavas had a huge week (tweet).
Japan’s Jumpei Akanuma pitched a no-hitter for Lee University (tweet).
Cuba and Nicaragua had a Home Run Derby during their exhibition series (roster), which Lázaro Cedeños won:
The WBSC announced it will be televising this weekend’s series between Japan and Australia (tweet). The next game is tomorrow, March 4.
A new event was announced that will pit prospects from Mexico and the Dominican Republic against each other (tweet).
We live-tweeted the final game in the Cuba-Nicaragua exhibition series (thread). Legend Frederich Cepeda had a clutch hit in the contest (tweet). Cuba won in 10 innings, sweeping the three-game set (tweet).
MLB published an article on the growth of baseball in South Africa and the connexion between Curtis Granderson and Gift Ngoepe (tweet).
Tom de Blok entered the Tigers’ Top 50 Prospects (tweet) for the Netherlands, while the Czech Republic’s Martin Červenka began spring training after a turbulent winter (tweet). The backstop travelled with the Orioles’ major league squad for a game (tweet). Lithuania’s Dovydas Neverauskas debuted with a scoreless inning (tweet).
Ten players from Israel’s WBC team are on big league rosters for spring training (tweet).
Britain’s Michael Roth earned the spring training start for the Cubs and looked very strong as he bids for minor league depth for Chicago (tweet).
There are two known Brazilians at American universities (tweet), as we add to our lists of international baseballers in the U.S.
Great Britain’s top position player prospect is Bahamian Jazz Chisholm, who earned another top listing:
John Sickels, minor league baseball expert, had a nice profile of baseball in Scotland:
Brazil’s Eric Pardinho was listed in the Blue Jays’ Top 10 despite having not yet appeared in a game. The hurler signed Brazil’s biggest contract ever (tweet).
We chronicled the season debut of Britain’s Nolan Bond, who had an excellent outing (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3).
Yet another British player had a noteworthy moment this week:
Puerto Rico announced its manager for the upcoming Central American and Caribbean Games in Colómbia (tweet).
WBSC unveils Baseball5, a street-ball version of baseball (link).
Ollie Thompson, a member of Britain’s U23 squad, earned selection to the MLB Academies Tournament, an elite training camp in Barcelona (link).
Our colleagues at World Baseball put together an interesting article that posited a move a three-tier system of national team competition, similar to Europe’s, rather than the current 1-2a/2b system (link).
Great Britain’s coaching staff continued its winter of conferences and seminars with another big event:
Australia lost a thrilling pitching duel to Japan in the first of a two-game friendly series in Japan despite a great start from Travis Blackley (link). Attendance was over 30 thousand.
And finally, we offered our second update of European baseballers in American education:
The Week Ahead:
After a delay, our second major staff announcement will be revealed.
Australia will take on Cuba in the second game of its two-match set, televised live by WBSC at 6:45 a.m. (link). You can watch the first game here (link).
Italy’s training camp in Sicily begins, with games TBD against Czech Republic and Germany.
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Previous articles in this series include:
18-24 February (link)
11-17 February (link)
4-10 February (link)
28 January-3 February (link)
21-27 January (link)
14-20 January (link)
7-13 January (link)
1-6 January (link)
22-31 December (link)
15-21 December (link)
8-14 December (link)
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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