(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Henk Seppen)
    First World Baseball Classic Qualifier to open in Australia
Nederlands
 BLACKTOWN, Greater Western Sydney, New South Wales (Australia) -
The first of four Qualifying Tournaments for next years World Baseball Classic gets underway on Thursday (February 11) in Australia.
In the next four days, the National Teams of Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines and South Africa will meet at Blacktown Baseball Stadium.
The stadium is located at Blacktown International Sportspark in Blacktown, which is located in Greater Western Sydney, which is part of the City of Sydney, which is the capital of the Australian State New South Wales.
Sixteen countries will participate in the four Qualifying Tournaments, representing all continents.
Five of them are representing Europe, while five also will come from Central and South America.
Three countries come from Asia, two from Oceania and one from Africa.
It marks the second time that Qualifying Tournaments will be played to decide which four countries will be the final four to play in the fourth edition of the World Baseball Classic that will be played in March next year.
These four teams will join the already existing field of participants of twelve countries, that qualified based on their accomplishments in the last World Baseball Classic in 2013.
These twelve countries are Canada, China, Chinese Taipei (Taiwan), Cuba, Dominican Republic, Italy, Japan, Kingdom of the Netherlands, Puerto Rico, South Korea, USA and Venezuela.
In the Fall of 2012, the first Qualifying Tournaments were played in Jupiter (USA), Panama City (Panama), Regensburg (Germany) and Taipei (Taiwan).
Just as in 2013, the World Baseball Classic will have the status again as World Championship.
Back then, the Dominican Republic won the title and was crowned as World Champion.
In 2011, the Netherlands was the final team to capture the World Championship-title in a World Cup Tournament old-style, which then was held in Panama.
The top-12 teams of the 2013 World Baseball Classic automatically qualified for next years event.
The teams that then ended in last place in their respective pools will have to play in this years Qualifying Tournaments, being Australia, Brazil, México and Spain.
All four Qualifying Tournaments will have the same format, which is a double-elimination.
On the first day of the event, two games will be played, involving all four partipating teams.
On the second day, the two winners will meet.
The winner of this game moves to the final.
Also on the second day, the two losing teams of Day 1 will meet.
The loser of this game will be eliminated, while the winner meets the losing team of the Day 2 match-up between the two winners of Day 1.
The winner of this last game will be the second finalist.
...Todd Van Steensel pitching for Kinheim in the...
...Netherlands Major League in 2012...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
As mentioned, playing in Australia will be host Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines and South Africa.
The 28-man rosters were announced recently and there will be a total of 17 players participating in the event who are currently affiliated to Major League-clubs, with one of them being on a 40-man Major League-roster.
Seven of them are affiliated with the Minnesota Twins, while two play in the organization of the Atlanta Braves.
One player each is coming from Arizona Diamondbacks, Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Dodgers, Miami Marlins, Pittsburgh Pirates and Seattle Mariners.
Nine of them will play for Australia, being pitchers Sam Gibbons, Todd Van Steensel (both Minnesota Twins), Steven Kent (Atlanta Braves), Peter Moylan (Kansas City Royals), Warwick Saupold (Detroit Tigers), catcher Matt Kennelly (Atlanta Braves), infielders James Beresford, Logan Wade (both Minnesota Twins) and outfielder Aaron Whitefield (Minnesota Twins).
Pitcher Todd van Steensel played in the Netherlands big league in 2012 for Haarlem-base Kinheim.
17 other players on the roster have played in the minor leagues in the past.
South Africa has three professional players on its roster, being pitchers Callan Pearce (Minnesota Twins) and Dylan Unsworth (Seattle Mariners) and outfielder Rowan Ebersohn (Minnesota Twins).
One of the last players to be added to the roster was talented short stop Gift Ngoepe, who was put on the 40-man roster of the Pittsburgh Pirates in this off-season.
Last year, the 26-year old Ngoepe played in Double-A.
In total, ten players on the South African roster have played in the minor leagues in the past.
New Zealand has two players on its roster, who play professionally, being pitcher Nick Maronde (Cleveland Indians) and outfielder Max Brown (Arizona Diamondbacks).
The team also includes several other players who have played in the minor leagues.
Also playing for the team is Boss Moanaroa, who played in the Australian Baseball League for Canberra Cavalry, which was eliminated for the Championship-final two weeks ago.
Also on the roster is Tyron Bartorillo, who won the Men Softball World Championship twice with the New Zealand National Team.
The Philippines also has two professional players, being catcher Brad Haynal (Miami Marlins) and infielder Angelo Songco (Los Angeles Dodgers).
In total, seven players have played in the minor leagues and they have three with Major League-experience.
...Jon Deeble as Australian Manager...
...at the 2013 World Baseball Classic...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Australia will be led again by veteran Manager Jon Deeble, who also headed the squad during each of the previous three World Baseball Classics and other big international events.
In these earlier three editions, Australia won only one of the nine games they have played, which was a big 17-7 win against México in 2009.
Former Major League-infielder Chris Woodward will be the Manager of New Zealand.
He was a member of the New Zealand coaching-staff during the Qualifying Tournament in 2013 when the team was 2-2 and lost the final to Chinese Taipei.
The Philippines will be led by Tim Hulett, also a former Major League-player, who currently is active as a Manager in the minor league for the Texas Rangers.
Four years ago, the Philippines recorded one win during the Qualifying Tournament against Thailand.
Alan Phillips is the Manager of South Africa, after having served as its Bench Coach during the 2013 World Baseball Classic.
As a player, Phillips pitched for South Africa during the World Championship of 1998 in Italy and the Olympic Games of 2000 in Sydney.
On Thursday, the event will be opened with the match-up between New Zealand and South Africa.
In the evening, Australia will play against the Philippines.
On March 17, the next two Qualifying Tournaments will get underway.
In Mexicali (México), the four participating countries are México, Czech Republic, Germany and Nicaragua.
In Panama City (Panama), Panama, Colombia, France and Spain will be the participating teams.
The fourth and last Qualifying Tournament will be begin on September 22 and will be played in Brooklyn (New York, USA).
The four participating teams there will be Brazil, Great Britain, Israel and Pakistan.
It will mark the first time that Pakistan is participating in the World Baseball Classic.
Of course, Grand Slam * Stats & News will cover all Qualifying Tournaments on this website.
(February 10)
Related Articles:
 Dominican Republic new Classic-champion. (March 19, 2013)
Dutch Team ends up short in semi-final. (March 18, 2013)
Dutch Baseball Team World Champion! (October 15, 2011)
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