Australian Baseball: A Sleeping Giant?
Australia has always had a special place in my heart. When I was younger and wanted to work with animals, Australian animals always intrigued me (and still do). One of my best friends and his family hail from Down Under along with a lot of other good friends in other places like Tasmania and Melbourne. I’ve visited the country twice and enjoyed it every single time. In fact, my favorite beer, James Boags, is currently being drunk by me while I write this with a bit of AC/DC playing in the background. However, this article will focus on two things I love; baseball and Australia.
One of the things we got our Australian friends into was baseball. They might not go out of their way to watch it, but if the opportunity arose, they would go see a game. They understand it well too, which makes things a lot easier for us to take them to games. However, my hope one day is for Australia to become one of the power house on the international stage. Believe it or not, they slowly are becoming so.
I was watching the Australia game in the World Baseball Classic a few nights ago as they faced off against a powerhouse, Japan. They played really well despite the disappointing loss. The pitching was outstanding including the starter Tim Atherton who went four solid innings.
There was one thing that I noticed about Australia that is something no one should over look, it seemed like they have natural baseball instincts despite being from a country where baseball is rarely played.
Manager Jon Deeble feels like there is a lot of talent in Australia, but he also feels like players from Australia don’t play enough games and thats why they don’t succeed in America. He’s absolutely right. He said that they should go to American colleges to develop their skills.
But the thing that this tournament could do is gain more interest in the country for a sport many there don’t know too much about. If Australians gain more interest, more players will play. And if more players will play, the talent pool expands. And when the talent pool expands, Australia will become a powerhouse country. But that is a ways to go.
Australia also defeated China 11-0 clearly showing there is talent there. Players like Warwick Saupold and Lachlan Wells are prime examples of talented individuals who could make an impact at the Major Leagues. There are other players on the team that despite them not making an impact in the Major Leagues, you could see the talent was there. Those players would be Luke Hughes and Mitch Dening to name a few.
Australia is about to take on Cuba, a nation known for being a powerhouse, however, with all the players who defected, they don’t look all that strong of a team. In their game against China, they won, but not convincingly as they only scored six runs against a country that is clearly not baseball savvy. Australia won convincingly against China. A possible upset of Cuba is very possible and to be honest, I think they will. If they do win, just imagine all the people in Australia suddenly becoming interested in the game.
Australia is on the verge becoming something special in the baseball world, but its only a matter of time until a giant wakes up.
