(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Henk Seppen)
    Team Europe Manager Marco Mazzieri names coaching-staff for Global Games
Nederlands
 PULLY (Switzerland) -
Marco Mazzieri, Manager of Team Europe, has named his 7-person coaching-staff for the upcoming Global Baseball Games.
On March 6 and 7, Samurai Japan and Team Europe will meet in the second edition of the event, which will take place in Osaka (Japan).
Both games of the 2-game series will be played in the Kyocera Dome, the home of NPB-club Orix Buffaloes.
On November 20, the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) and Nippon Professsional Baseball (NPB) announced that the Global Baseball Games would return again this year.
On December 5, WBSC Europe corfirmed the naming of Mazzieri's coaching-staff.
When the return of the 2-game series was announced on November 20, the WBSC also announced that Italian Marco Mazzieri had been named Manager of the European All Star Team.
Mazzieri is the former Manager of the Italian National Team and led La Squadra Azzurra to the European title in 2010 and 2012.
He was Manager from 2007 through 2017.
Since 1980, Mazzieri played in 18 seasons for Grosseto as an outfielder.
He also played for Casalecchio (1991) and Bologna (1992-1993).
He currently is the chairman of the WBSC Coach Commission.
In October, Hirokazu Ibata was named Manager of Samurai Japan, the National Professional Team of the country.
Ibata is a former second baseman/short stop, who played in the NPB for Chunichi Dragons (1998-2013) and Yomiuri Giants (2014-2015).
During the 2020 Olympic Games (played in 2021), Ibata was a member of the coaching-staff of Japan.
...Sidney de Jong (left) and Steve Janssen with the...
...Netherlands Team during the 2016 European...
...Championship in Hoofddorp (Netherlands)...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Sidney de Jong from the Netherlands will be the Bench Coach of Mazzieri.
In 2011, De Jong was one of the players of the Netherlands Team that captured the title at the World Championship in Panama.
In 2004 and 2008, he participated with the Orange-squad in the Olympic Games in respectively Athens (Greece) and Beijing (China).
In 2006 and 2009, De Jong participated in the World Baseball Classic.
He currently is the Manager of the Netherlands Under-23 Team.
De Jong played in the Dutch big league for Amsterdam Pirates, HCAW and Kinheim.
In 2013, the former catcher coached in the highest Dutch league for Amsterdam Pirates.
Pavel Chadim will be the coach at first base.
Chadim is the Manager of the Czech National Team since 2021.
Last year, he led the Czech Team during the World Baseball Classic when the team first participated in this global event.
The former outfielder played in the highest Czech league for Technika Brno and Draci Brno with whom he won numerous national Championship-titles.
In 2012, Chadim was the Manager of the Czech National Under-21 Team.
Veteran Belgian coach Steve Janssen will be the 3B Coach in Mazzieri's staff.
In 2015, Janssen was the Manager of Team Europe during the first edition of the Global Baseball Games and Mazzieri then was a member of his coaching-staff.
The former catcher played many seasons in the highest Belgian league for Brasschaat Braves, where he also coached.
In the Dutch big league, Janssen coached at Sparta-Feyenoord and Neptunus.
Janssen was the Pitching Coach of the Netherlands Team in 2002-2005 and in 2011-2012, then led the Orange-squad as Manager in 2013-2017.
After having been active as a Minor League-coach in the Chicago Cubs-organization (2018-2019), Janssen was the Manager of the German National Team in 2020-2022.
Evert-Jan 't Hoen will be the Infield Coach.
Since 2018, 't Hoen is the Manager of the Netherlands Team whom he led to the European title in 2019 and 2021.
Last year, his Orange-squad finished in an unexpected and disappointing third place.
As player, the former infielder (short stop, second base, third base) played professionally in the organization of California/Anaheim Angels (the current Los Angeles Angels) in 1996-2001, reaching Triple-A in 1999, 2000 and 2001.
In the Dutch big league, 't Hoen played for Twins Oosterhout and Neptunus.
He also has been the Head Coach of the latter.
With the Netherlands Team, he participated in three Olympic Games (1996, 2000, 2004).
Italian Alessandro Maestri is the Pitching Coach.
He played professionally in the Minor League in the USA in the Chicago Cubs-organization (2006-2011).
Maestri also played in Japan in the Nippon Professional Baseball for Orix Buffaloes (2012-2015), in South Korea for Hanwha Eagles (2016) and in the professional league in Australia for Brisbane Bandits (winter-season 2011-2012) and Sydney Blue Sox (2018-2019).
He also played in Mexico and in independent leagues in Japan.
In the Italian Baseball League, Maestri played for San Marino (2005, 2012, 2018-2020).
As a pitcher, Maestri was an ace in the Italian National Team, with whom he won the Bronze Medal in the Intercontinental Cup in 2010.
In 2015, Maestri was one of the pitchers of Team Europe during the first edition of the Global Baseball Games.
He currently is a Minor League Pitching Coach for Pittsburgh Pirates.
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...Left: Evert-Jan 't Hoen as Orange-Manager...
...during the 2023 European Championship...
...Right: Alessandro Maestri pitching for Italy...
...during the Super6 in 2018...
(© Photos: Henk Seppen) |
Aritz García from Spain will be the Bullpen Coach for Team Europe.
The former infielder played college-baseball in the USA and also played professionally in independent leagues.
Last year, García was a member of the coaching-staff of the Spanish National Team during the European Championship in Czechia.
There, Spain captured the European title for the first time since 1955.
Brazilian-born coach Luis Camargo will be an Assistant Coach and also will serve as batting practice pitcher and bullpen catcher.
Camargo, who also has an Italian citizenship, played in Industrial Leagues in Japan, but also played in the Italian Baseball League in 2016 for Rimini Pirates.
Camargo has been active as an instructor at a baseball-academy in Sao Paolo (Brazil) and played in the National Teams of both Brazil and Italy.
In more recent years, he moved to Austria, where he last year was the Manager of Wiener Neustadt Diving Ducks, whom he led to the Austrian Championship-title.
Also named to the staff of Team Europe were Italians Gianni Natale and Massimo Baldi.
The first will be the Strength and Conditioning Coach, the second will be the Trainer.
Both had been members of Mazzieri's staff when he was Manager of Italy in 2007-2017.
Manager Marco Mazzieri currently has a preliminary roster of 53 players.
The final roster of 28 players is expected to be announced shortly.
In a press release from WBSC Europe, Mazzieri stated:
,,This staff brings a lot of baseball knowledge to the team.
I think the players will receive adequate support to perform at their best''.
Mazzieri added:
,,I'm beyond grateful for the opportunity.
Representing Europe in the Global Baseball Games is a huge honour.
I'm not going to name the players we are considering.
Most compete in the European leagues, but we also consider players under contract with MLB-organizations and other professional leagues.
The final 28-man roster will include 14 pitchers''.
The first edition was organized in March 2015 and the games were then played in the Tokyo Dome in the Japanese capital.
As mentioned, back then, Steve Janssen was the Manager of Team Europe.
In his 8-member coaching-staff, Mazzieri then was the Bench Coach.
In 2015, Janssen was the Manager of the Netherlands and had captured the European title in the previous year, while Mazzieri was the Manager of Italy.
Japan was led by Manager Hiroki Kokubo.
In the first game, on March 10, Japan nipped Europe 4-3.
The next day, Europe won with a 6-2 score in a game that was highlighted by a 3-run homerun by Yurendell de Caster.
(January 2)
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