Klattsy
Australian Player Game Used collector
Hi There,
I got the new issue of The Pitch today.
Anyone who wants to subscribe: "You may contact our office: [email protected] or by telephone 02 9238 2292."
Otherwise I can forward the email to anyone who PM's me there address. Can't say it'll be immediate but i'll set up a forwarding group in Outlook.
It's getting to long to post here. Plus it has attachements of the batting & pitching stats for all the Aussie guys.
Here's a bit from this weeks:
SPRING TRAINING UNDERWAY
Thirteen Australians in Major League Camps as Season Begins
Once all the players had reported to Big League spring training there were thirteen Australians amongst them.
The players in big league camp are/were: pitchers Craig Anderson (NSW) with the Baltimore Orioles, Grant Balfour (NSW) with the Tampa Bay Rays, Travis Blackley (VIC) with the Philadelphia Phillies, Tristan Crawford (QLD) with the Washington Naitionals (since reassigned to minor league camp), Peter Moylan (VIC) and Phil Stockman (QLD) with the Atlanta Braves, Ryan Rowland-Smith (NSW) with the Seattle Mariners and Rich Thompson (NSW) with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
Also in camp position players Allan de San Miguel (WA) with the Minnesota Twins (since reassigned), Brad Harman (VIC) and Chris Snelling (NSW) with the Philadelphia Phillies (Harman has since been optioned to minor league camp), Justin Huber (VIC) with the Kansas City Royals and Trent Oeltjen (NSW) with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Please see the attached documents for all these players’ current spring training stats.
BALFOUR EXPECTING A BATTLE TO MAKE ROSTER
Marc Lancaster, The Tampa Tribune – 23 February
A love for competition drives most athletes, but Rays RHP Grant Balfour would rather save it for April through October. The 30-year-old reliever longs for the day he doesn't have to come into somebody's spring training camp and win a job.
"Maybe this year I'll make the team, and hopefully one year I don't have to come in and try and make a team," he said. "It'd be nice, obviously, but competition makes it all the more fun, I guess."
Balfour has quite a battle on his hands during the next month or so. He was impressive at times last summer after the Rays acquired him from the Brewers in exchange for Seth McClung. His August was particularly impressive, featuring a 0.79 ERA as opponents hit just .184 against him. But when the Rays beefed up their bullpen crew during the winter, the hill grew that much steeper for Balfour.
"That's the way it is - everyone's trying to get better all the time," he said. "I feel like I've gotten better as far as my health issues and stuff like that. I'm definitely better."
Balfour had nowhere to go but up on that account after a remarkable double shot to his right arm in 2005. In a span of 4 1/2 months that year, he underwent Tommy John surgery to repair a torn elbow ligament and surgery to repair a torn labrum and rotator cuff in his shoulder. He didn't really work his way back up to full strength until last season, which began with a couple of stops in the Brewers' farm system.
He said he feels completely healthy now after splitting the winter between a home in Minnesota and his native Australia. His early work in camp has focused on refining his command, which has come and gone during his career. He always has had a high strikeout rate, though, and that might come in handy for the Rays - if Balfour wins a job.
"As long as I get a good opportunity to make the team, I can go out there and if I pitch well, hope to be on the team," he said. "If I don't pitch well, then, fair enough."
PHILLIES FIND UPBEAT PROPECTS DOWN UNDER
David Murphy, Philadelphia Daily News – 4 March
Three things you need to know about Australians:
One, they do not ride kangaroos to school.
"I've gotten that one a few times," Brad Harman says.
Two, they have the ability to control their accents.
"The other guys lay it on thick," Chris Snelling says.
Three, and most important, they play baseball. And they play it at a far higher level than many Americans might realize.
With three Aussies in major league spring training - Harman, a second baseman; Snelling, an outfielder; and pitcher Travis Blackley - and six more throughout the organization, the Phillies are well aware of the fertile recruiting ground Down Under. And in recent years, they have increased their efforts to tap the country's rapidly expanding talent base and capitalize on the numerous advantages of signing players who call Australia home.
"Right now, as far as amateur players, Australia probably falls right behind the Latin countries," Phillies assistant general manager Mike Arbuckle said.
Of the 25 Australians who have suited up in a major league game, 16 have debuted in the last 8 years. Two are on the Phillies' 40-man roster: Snelling, who has hit .240 in various stints with Seattle, Washington and Oakland the past 4 years; and Blackley, a lefthander who started six games for the Mariners in 2004 and two games for the Giants last season.
Snelling has an uphill battle at breaking camp with the Phillies, given the overcrowded bench. But Blackley has a good shot to earn a spot in the rotation or in the bullpen, depending on how the four-way battle for the fifth starter's spot pans out.
Signed as a 17-year-old by the Mariners in 2001 after an impressive showing for Australia's national team, Blackley, a charismatic lefty with a propensity for heavy metal, quickly established himself as the organization's top pitching prospect. After he went 17-3 with a 2.61 ERA at Double A San Antonio in 2003, Seattle called him up in July 2004. He earned his first major league win while still 21.
But after losing his next three decisions, Blackley was sent to the minors. The following offseason, doctors discovered two small tears in the labrum in his pitching shoulder. He missed all of 2005, returned to the minors in 2006, then was traded to San Francisco last April. In Blackley's two starts for the Giants, he allowed seven runs in 8 2/3 innings. Last fall, San Francisco left him exposed, and the Phillies selected him in the Rule 5 draft. He's pitched well in his first two appearances, the most recent of which came yesterday in a "B" game against the Pirates.
"I want to show that I can pump strikes in there and that I'm not afraid of contact, and that I'm a gamer, that I'm going to go after them, and I'm going to leave everything out there," said Blackley, who pitched three scoreless innings against the Pirates, striking out three.
But if you are looking for the face of the Phillies' efforts in Australia, it is on the back row of the clubhouse at Bright House Field. There, Harman sits with a number of other prospects still a year or 2 or 3 (or more) away from the big leagues.
Harman hit .281 with 13 home runs at Class A Clearwater last season. Four years ago, though, he was an anonymous 17-year-old infielder playing for his state team and thinking about earning a college scholarship. In Australia, baseball players come up through the national ranks, playing for teams sponsored by their respective states' institute of sport. For Harman, that state is Victoria, Australia's second-most populous and home to Melbourne, a city of nearly 4 million.
A 6-1, 175-pounder, he was introduced to baseball the way many Australian players are: through family.
Though baseball is dwarfed in popularity by rugby, cricket and football, Harman's father, Chris, was in love with the diamond. A former hotel manager, Chris coached his son throughout his childhood, even buying him a baseball uniform when he was a toddler.
During Harman's formative years, prospects already were coming to America. In 1992 and 1993, four Australians made their major league debuts, including catcher Dave Nilsson, who hit .284 in eight seasons with the Brewers, and pitcher Graeme Lloyd, who played 10 seasons with seven teams.
Since the early 1990s, such teams as Minnesota, Atlanta and Seattle have invested heavily in the country, because of baseball's growing popularity and relatively cheap cost of signing players.
The Braves recorded an infamous whiff when they gave a prospect named Glenn Williams close to $1 million in 1993 to sign, only to watch him struggle in the minor leagues. (Williams, a third baseman, made it to the big leagues in 2005 with the Twins; he spent last season with the club's Triple A team in Rochester.) But for the most part, the talent comes cheap.
"Australians are relatively easy to sign," said Kevin Hooker, the Phillies' full-time Australian scout, who is based in Perth.
Hooker found this out when he was hired by the Phillies in the wake of the 2000 Sydney Olympics. At the time, Nilsson had just finished his big-league career, Lloyd was pitching for the Expos, and the Twins were set to debut Aussie pitchers Brad Thomas and Grant Balfour.
"We just felt like it was an area that should be covered," said Sal Agostinelli, the Phillies' international scouting director, who estimates about 70 Australians are under contract to major league teams.
To fill the void, the Phillies turned to Hooker, an Australian native who played at Oregon State and spent a couple of seasons playing for the organization in the minor leagues.
While attending the national under-18 tournament, Hooker saw Harman playing for Victoria. At the time, Harman hadn't heard from any professional scouts and was turning his attention toward earning a scholarship at an American university. When Hooker called him a month-and-a-half after the tournament, Harman was thrilled to sign.
The price tag?
Ten-thousand dollars.
"It's still been a relatively economical country to sign players," Arbuckle said. "Now, that's changing, just as the Dominican and other places are. As more and more people get involved, the dollars go up."
The transition from international play in Australia to the minor leagues went smoothly for Harman, an example of another benefit of scouting the country.
Unlike players from Latin America, Australian players have no language barrier to overcome, aside from the occasional strange look they draw when dropping such expressions as durry (cigarette), fair go (fair chance), or, of course, mate.
Harman, for one, said there was zero culture shock when he arrived in the United States.
"It's very similar," Harman said. "There's really not much difference, except driving on the wrong side of the road."
The Phillies still are waiting to produce their first major leaguer from Australia, but it seems to be only a matter of time. The organization has 10 Aussie players under contract, more than any major league team other than the Twins.
Agostinelli and Hooker are very high on recently signed 17-year-old righthander Todd Van Steensel, a 6-3, 190-pounder.
Drew Naylor, a 21-year-old righthander, and Joe Naughton, a lefthanded-hitting catcher, also have legitimate hopes.
Of all of them, Harman might have the most to play for.
His father has spent the past 10 years battling Crohn's disease, a bowel disease that has forced him to undergo at least 12 operations and has left him unable to work or play baseball.
Chris Harman has yet to see his son play professionally. And if Harman someday becomes the Phillies' first Aussie big-leaguer, that will change.
"The first thing I'm doing with that first paycheck is trying to bring out the family," Harman said.
"That'd be great."
Mark.
I got the new issue of The Pitch today.
Anyone who wants to subscribe: "You may contact our office: [email protected] or by telephone 02 9238 2292."
Otherwise I can forward the email to anyone who PM's me there address. Can't say it'll be immediate but i'll set up a forwarding group in Outlook.
It's getting to long to post here. Plus it has attachements of the batting & pitching stats for all the Aussie guys.
Here's a bit from this weeks:
SPRING TRAINING UNDERWAY
Thirteen Australians in Major League Camps as Season Begins
Once all the players had reported to Big League spring training there were thirteen Australians amongst them.
The players in big league camp are/were: pitchers Craig Anderson (NSW) with the Baltimore Orioles, Grant Balfour (NSW) with the Tampa Bay Rays, Travis Blackley (VIC) with the Philadelphia Phillies, Tristan Crawford (QLD) with the Washington Naitionals (since reassigned to minor league camp), Peter Moylan (VIC) and Phil Stockman (QLD) with the Atlanta Braves, Ryan Rowland-Smith (NSW) with the Seattle Mariners and Rich Thompson (NSW) with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
Also in camp position players Allan de San Miguel (WA) with the Minnesota Twins (since reassigned), Brad Harman (VIC) and Chris Snelling (NSW) with the Philadelphia Phillies (Harman has since been optioned to minor league camp), Justin Huber (VIC) with the Kansas City Royals and Trent Oeltjen (NSW) with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Please see the attached documents for all these players’ current spring training stats.
BALFOUR EXPECTING A BATTLE TO MAKE ROSTER
Marc Lancaster, The Tampa Tribune – 23 February
A love for competition drives most athletes, but Rays RHP Grant Balfour would rather save it for April through October. The 30-year-old reliever longs for the day he doesn't have to come into somebody's spring training camp and win a job.
"Maybe this year I'll make the team, and hopefully one year I don't have to come in and try and make a team," he said. "It'd be nice, obviously, but competition makes it all the more fun, I guess."
Balfour has quite a battle on his hands during the next month or so. He was impressive at times last summer after the Rays acquired him from the Brewers in exchange for Seth McClung. His August was particularly impressive, featuring a 0.79 ERA as opponents hit just .184 against him. But when the Rays beefed up their bullpen crew during the winter, the hill grew that much steeper for Balfour.
"That's the way it is - everyone's trying to get better all the time," he said. "I feel like I've gotten better as far as my health issues and stuff like that. I'm definitely better."
Balfour had nowhere to go but up on that account after a remarkable double shot to his right arm in 2005. In a span of 4 1/2 months that year, he underwent Tommy John surgery to repair a torn elbow ligament and surgery to repair a torn labrum and rotator cuff in his shoulder. He didn't really work his way back up to full strength until last season, which began with a couple of stops in the Brewers' farm system.
He said he feels completely healthy now after splitting the winter between a home in Minnesota and his native Australia. His early work in camp has focused on refining his command, which has come and gone during his career. He always has had a high strikeout rate, though, and that might come in handy for the Rays - if Balfour wins a job.
"As long as I get a good opportunity to make the team, I can go out there and if I pitch well, hope to be on the team," he said. "If I don't pitch well, then, fair enough."
PHILLIES FIND UPBEAT PROPECTS DOWN UNDER
David Murphy, Philadelphia Daily News – 4 March
Three things you need to know about Australians:
One, they do not ride kangaroos to school.
"I've gotten that one a few times," Brad Harman says.
Two, they have the ability to control their accents.
"The other guys lay it on thick," Chris Snelling says.
Three, and most important, they play baseball. And they play it at a far higher level than many Americans might realize.
With three Aussies in major league spring training - Harman, a second baseman; Snelling, an outfielder; and pitcher Travis Blackley - and six more throughout the organization, the Phillies are well aware of the fertile recruiting ground Down Under. And in recent years, they have increased their efforts to tap the country's rapidly expanding talent base and capitalize on the numerous advantages of signing players who call Australia home.
"Right now, as far as amateur players, Australia probably falls right behind the Latin countries," Phillies assistant general manager Mike Arbuckle said.
Of the 25 Australians who have suited up in a major league game, 16 have debuted in the last 8 years. Two are on the Phillies' 40-man roster: Snelling, who has hit .240 in various stints with Seattle, Washington and Oakland the past 4 years; and Blackley, a lefthander who started six games for the Mariners in 2004 and two games for the Giants last season.
Snelling has an uphill battle at breaking camp with the Phillies, given the overcrowded bench. But Blackley has a good shot to earn a spot in the rotation or in the bullpen, depending on how the four-way battle for the fifth starter's spot pans out.
Signed as a 17-year-old by the Mariners in 2001 after an impressive showing for Australia's national team, Blackley, a charismatic lefty with a propensity for heavy metal, quickly established himself as the organization's top pitching prospect. After he went 17-3 with a 2.61 ERA at Double A San Antonio in 2003, Seattle called him up in July 2004. He earned his first major league win while still 21.
But after losing his next three decisions, Blackley was sent to the minors. The following offseason, doctors discovered two small tears in the labrum in his pitching shoulder. He missed all of 2005, returned to the minors in 2006, then was traded to San Francisco last April. In Blackley's two starts for the Giants, he allowed seven runs in 8 2/3 innings. Last fall, San Francisco left him exposed, and the Phillies selected him in the Rule 5 draft. He's pitched well in his first two appearances, the most recent of which came yesterday in a "B" game against the Pirates.
"I want to show that I can pump strikes in there and that I'm not afraid of contact, and that I'm a gamer, that I'm going to go after them, and I'm going to leave everything out there," said Blackley, who pitched three scoreless innings against the Pirates, striking out three.
But if you are looking for the face of the Phillies' efforts in Australia, it is on the back row of the clubhouse at Bright House Field. There, Harman sits with a number of other prospects still a year or 2 or 3 (or more) away from the big leagues.
Harman hit .281 with 13 home runs at Class A Clearwater last season. Four years ago, though, he was an anonymous 17-year-old infielder playing for his state team and thinking about earning a college scholarship. In Australia, baseball players come up through the national ranks, playing for teams sponsored by their respective states' institute of sport. For Harman, that state is Victoria, Australia's second-most populous and home to Melbourne, a city of nearly 4 million.
A 6-1, 175-pounder, he was introduced to baseball the way many Australian players are: through family.
Though baseball is dwarfed in popularity by rugby, cricket and football, Harman's father, Chris, was in love with the diamond. A former hotel manager, Chris coached his son throughout his childhood, even buying him a baseball uniform when he was a toddler.
During Harman's formative years, prospects already were coming to America. In 1992 and 1993, four Australians made their major league debuts, including catcher Dave Nilsson, who hit .284 in eight seasons with the Brewers, and pitcher Graeme Lloyd, who played 10 seasons with seven teams.
Since the early 1990s, such teams as Minnesota, Atlanta and Seattle have invested heavily in the country, because of baseball's growing popularity and relatively cheap cost of signing players.
The Braves recorded an infamous whiff when they gave a prospect named Glenn Williams close to $1 million in 1993 to sign, only to watch him struggle in the minor leagues. (Williams, a third baseman, made it to the big leagues in 2005 with the Twins; he spent last season with the club's Triple A team in Rochester.) But for the most part, the talent comes cheap.
"Australians are relatively easy to sign," said Kevin Hooker, the Phillies' full-time Australian scout, who is based in Perth.
Hooker found this out when he was hired by the Phillies in the wake of the 2000 Sydney Olympics. At the time, Nilsson had just finished his big-league career, Lloyd was pitching for the Expos, and the Twins were set to debut Aussie pitchers Brad Thomas and Grant Balfour.
"We just felt like it was an area that should be covered," said Sal Agostinelli, the Phillies' international scouting director, who estimates about 70 Australians are under contract to major league teams.
To fill the void, the Phillies turned to Hooker, an Australian native who played at Oregon State and spent a couple of seasons playing for the organization in the minor leagues.
While attending the national under-18 tournament, Hooker saw Harman playing for Victoria. At the time, Harman hadn't heard from any professional scouts and was turning his attention toward earning a scholarship at an American university. When Hooker called him a month-and-a-half after the tournament, Harman was thrilled to sign.
The price tag?
Ten-thousand dollars.
"It's still been a relatively economical country to sign players," Arbuckle said. "Now, that's changing, just as the Dominican and other places are. As more and more people get involved, the dollars go up."
The transition from international play in Australia to the minor leagues went smoothly for Harman, an example of another benefit of scouting the country.
Unlike players from Latin America, Australian players have no language barrier to overcome, aside from the occasional strange look they draw when dropping such expressions as durry (cigarette), fair go (fair chance), or, of course, mate.
Harman, for one, said there was zero culture shock when he arrived in the United States.
"It's very similar," Harman said. "There's really not much difference, except driving on the wrong side of the road."
The Phillies still are waiting to produce their first major leaguer from Australia, but it seems to be only a matter of time. The organization has 10 Aussie players under contract, more than any major league team other than the Twins.
Agostinelli and Hooker are very high on recently signed 17-year-old righthander Todd Van Steensel, a 6-3, 190-pounder.
Drew Naylor, a 21-year-old righthander, and Joe Naughton, a lefthanded-hitting catcher, also have legitimate hopes.
Of all of them, Harman might have the most to play for.
His father has spent the past 10 years battling Crohn's disease, a bowel disease that has forced him to undergo at least 12 operations and has left him unable to work or play baseball.
Chris Harman has yet to see his son play professionally. And if Harman someday becomes the Phillies' first Aussie big-leaguer, that will change.
"The first thing I'm doing with that first paycheck is trying to bring out the family," Harman said.
"That'd be great."
Mark.
