Olympic Baseball Blog

olympicbaseball March 4th, 2008

Australia Baseball National Team just released the Final Olympic Qualifier Roster today.

The 24-man squad is headlined by five members of Australia’s 2004 Silver medal winning team in addition to boasting some prodigious new talent set for their senior debuts, an unprecedented eight players are set to make their international debuts.

A host of Australia’s best players, including Major League pitchers Travis Blackley and Ryan Rowland-Smith, are absent attending US spring training, putting the emphasis on some of the country’s next generation of talent.

Former Major League player and two-time Olympian Glenn Williams is one of the more experienced members of the team who will need to play a key role in the qualifier – a tournament some pundits have already referred to as Australia’s “Mini-Olympics”.

“We knew coming in that it was going to be a tough road to Beijing,” Williams said. “But when three of the eight teams have already won Olympic Medals (Korea, Australia, Chinese Taipei), and two others (Canada, Mexico) consider baseball as one of their major sports, you know the bar is going to be set pretty high,” he said.

The Australian team has just finished a crucial two-week Gold Coast camp that has placed them on track for an Olympic medal. The highlight of the camp was a five-game practice tournament against heavyweights Canada, which ended in a 2-1 win to the visitors. Canada won the final tie 4-1 at Palm Meadows yesterday.

“The results against Canada didn’t matter,” said Australian Baseball’s operations manager Brett Pickett. “Both teams were in a preparation mentality. What was important was to see some live, competitive pitching and some high quality pitching at that.”

The Aussies have been in good form with sixth place at the World Cup in November. There they won their first six games but fell to Japan in their first finals eliminator. The personnel have changed a great deal since Athens, and Pickett said the squad had lost even more experience because of the timing of this week’s Taiwan qualifying tournament.

“We are the Olympic silver medalists so there is the expectation we will qualify for the Games,” Pickett said. “We have a lot of players not available for Taiwan because the international federation put this tournament in the middle of US spring training, so a number of our guys are ineligible because of their Major League roster status. “So we are going with a young side but are still optimistic we will get through. For Beijing, our US players will be in the middle of the season and there is no restriction on them playing.”

Australian Head Coach Jon Deeble, who guided the Aussies to their greatest ever performance in Athens four years ago, echoes the sentiments of his senior players but also sees the Final Qualifying tournament as a genuine opportunity for Australian Baseball.

“There is no escaping the fact that we have faced some real challenges in preparing for this tournament,” Deeble said. “The (March) timing of the event meant that many of our players were committed to their Major League clubs in the US, and the fact that it’s our one and only opportunity to qualify means there is an enormous amount on the line.” “Personally, it’s been the most challenging program in my seven years as the Coach of the National Team…but I also think we are witnessing the birth of our next generation of Australian stars,” Deeble said.

That “next generation” Deeble refers to includes 13 players under the age of 25, three of whom have not yet seen their 20th birthdays. But don’t let their ages fool you – 19-year-old Liam Hendriks is fresh off his 2008 Claxton Shield Rookie of the year campaign and 18-year-old Steve Kent won the 2007 ABF Youth Player of the Year.

James Linger, who is set to become the first 17-year-old to play for his country since current Major leaguer Chris Snelling won Gold with the Aussies at the 1999 Intercontinental Cup, continues to exceed all expectations every time he graces the field.

The 17-year-old James Linger was selected in the Australian senior baseball team, making him the youngest player ever to make the side. He was selected after a series of trials played at the Gold Coast and Brisbane over the past week, during which the Australian side took on baseball powerhouse Canada.

Linger’s father, Mark, said the family did not expect him to make the side after coaches said he was probably too young. James was shaking when he heard he had made it. “We all were He was told before the series that he was too young to be chosen, so we didn’t really expect it.” He said. Linger plays both short-stop and centre so has been selected in the side as a utility player.

The thing that’s most amazing is James’s age; he’s about two years younger than the next youngest in the side, and the rest of the team is in their mid-20s.

Australia must place in the top three teams of the eight-nation Final Olympic Qualifying Tournament matching up against Korea, Canada, Spain, Germany, South Africa, Mexico and Taiwan. The seven-game round robin tournament gets underway March 7 in Taichung when Australia takes on Germany in their opening game.

The detail information about roster is here.

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