Overseas baseball podcast

Five years after graduating from college, Pete Saldaña had a good job, making good money, just bought a brand new car, but he wasn't happy. Then one day, he saw an Instagram post of a former college teammate who was playing baseball in Hungary and that was the first of many moments that set Pete off on an adventure of a lifetime which saw him play baseball in Austria, Australia, Czech Republic, Germany, and a the small Caribbean Island of Saint Martin while forming lifelong new friendships along the way. The craziest thing of it all, is that Pete hadn't touched a baseball or swung a bat since graduating. The cherry on top following Pete's adventure and experience gained within, is that he now lives his best life back in the U.S working in baseball.

Trent Saharek graduated from a small baseball college program out of Minnesota and desperately wanted to play baseball overseas. After registering for a membership at Baseball Jobs Overseas, he still struggled to receive an offer because he was an outfielder, which are not in much demand to import, and was from a small DIII program. Until one day, Trent made a tweak to his profile at the guidance of Jimmy, and the next day he received his first offer. He jumped on the opportunity and never looked back, playing multiple seasons overseas in Germany, Australia, and Belgium. What was the tweak to his profile that he made? What steps did he take as an outfielder to continue to receive offers? You will have to listen to find out. Also, you don't want to miss his story of making a comeback to European baseball years after hanging them up and creating his best baseball memory in the process.

If you would like to make overseas baseball a long-term career and lifestyle, we recommend taking a page out of Tim Brown's playbook. Since 2012, Tim has been traveling the world playing baseball, foregoing a promising independent professional baseball career for overseas baseball. Today at 37 years old, he continues to seek new adventures and new countries every season. To-date has played in Australia x 5, Austria, Argentina, Croatia x 2, Czech Republic, Germany, Great Britain, New Zealand, Slovenia, South Africa, x 2 and Sweden. Most recently he spent a few months coaching in Egypt during the 2024-2025 off season and has now signed to play in France in 2025. In this episode, Tim shares with us why he has decided to make this a life choice and how he is able to continue competing at a high level. One thing for sure is that whenever the dust settles on Tim Brown's career, he will have made a major impact on the global game and fondly remembered by all those who were lucky enough to meet him.  Fun fact: Tim is our longstanding active member and is now part of the BBJO staff.

After graduating from Holy Names University (NCAA II) with average numbers, Daniel Catalan discovered opportunities to continue playing baseball overseas. However, securing an offer proved challenging. Determined to keep his career alive, he took matters into his own hands—flying to Spain and walking on with a team. This was just one of many investments in himself that helped him climb the ranks, eventually leading to a role as a hitting coach in the Chinese Professional Baseball League. As of early 2025, Daniel is preparing for his second season with the CTBC Brothers—the reigning CPBL champions—turning his passion for baseball into a full-time career and living his dream.

Jeremy Guthrie shares his story of performing at the highest level in multiple sports while maintaining academics, passing up on the draft multiple times, stopping playing baseball and then returning to go on to become a World Series Champion, and his post MLB international baseball activities, including joining forces with BBJO.

Andy Cosgrove lost his love for the game while playing professional baseball for the Twins and in the Frontier League due to the business side of the game. He then discovered the opportunities that exist to travel the world and play baseball and jumped all over it. The pureness of the overseas game was exactly what Andy needed to fall back in love with it. At first, his plan was to play one or two seasons and hang them up, but Andy found himself playing his best baseball and living at a location aboard that he describes as the best "day-to-day living" he had ever experienced. Andy then wound up starring on a hit reality TV show while playing abroad, boosting his personal brand and leading to his next big break that will see him playing in front of crowds as large as 80,000 in 2025.

In this episode, we talk to Ben Meyer about how to work your way up the professional baseball ladder. After receiving limited playing time at a D3 college, Ben didn't have many options. He played in a men's league in Los Angeles where he developed as a pitcher and then flew himself to the Netherlands to play for a 2nd Division Dutch team. After a few successful seasons, he worked his way onto the top team in Europe, the Amsterdam Pirates where he won a championship. He then headed to the Japan Winter League where he earned a contract with the Ishikari Red Phoenix for the 2024 season where he recently won the championship.

In this episode, Matthew Malconian walks us through his decision to quit his corporate office job and pursue a baseball career overseas. After getting his foot in the door with a 2nd Division German team, the Füssen Royal Bavarians, Matthew invests in himself and attends the Japan Winter League with aspirations of playing in Japan. After a successful JWL season, Matthew signs with the Bibai Black Diamonds for the 2024 season where he was among the league leaders in nearly every pitching category.

Patrick Cromwell and Andrew Cosgrove are a rare breed of BBJO member. Both of these talented former division one players from top programs decided to forgo the MLB dream and use their talents to play baseball in some of the most desirable places to live overseas. But what separates them from most members with similar baseball backgrounds, is that they were less concerned about the level of baseball, as long as the location fit what they were looking for.

Whether opening for Green Day or pitching at Dodgers stadium, there is one thing for certain about Scott Radinsky........ he always brings it. In this episode, the former MLB pitcher and coach —who doubled as a punk rock singer for his band Pulley during the MLB offseason— talks about his simple approach to the game, whether facing Ken Griffey Jr. in his heyday or coaching a pitcher back from the edge of being sent down to the minors and onwards to a long MLB career. His approach —and punk rock attitude— proved successful, making him a fan favorite at both Comiskey Park and Dodgers Stadium during the height of his pitching career which saw him throw five of his 11 MLB seasons with a sub 3.00 ERA as one of the most used arms out of the pen. After a brief discussion to start the podcast about his other side gig as the owner of one of the biggest indoor skate parks in California, the talk turns baseball and never goes back as Scott uses his storytelling skills to share some cool MLB stories before diving deep into his approach to the game as both a player and a coach, balancing his two lives at a musician and professional athlete, and ending with some fun rapid fire questions about his playing, coaching and musical career. Today, Scott continues to tour with his band and is a free agent looking for a coaching or managing career in Europe. We invite you to listen to what we consider our best episode to date.

Seattle-born, Ethan Skuija, has always been a dominant pitcher. He dominated as a kid growing up in Canada, in junior college in California, and in division one baseball playing for CSU Bakersfield. None of this changed since he decided to take his career overseas after missing the draft. At the time of this interview, Ethan was about 6 weeks into a winter ball stint in Australia for the 2022-2023 season, his second season overseas that saw him go on to dominate. He was fresh off a dominant season in the Czech Republic where he posted a 0.62 ERA in 47.2 innings of work, with a whopping 90 strikeouts in what many regard as a strong hitting league. Although Ethan was not a member of our website, he was a pitcher we could not ignore when recruiting for our Globetrotters team that would compete at Prague Baseball Week against the likes of the Spanish and Czech National teams. In this interview, we talk about Ethan's career in baseball, his mental approach to the game, the unmatched energy he brings to the dugout when not pitching, and of course, all the goodness about his experience playing baseball overseas thus far. Since this interview, Ethan has gone on to pitch for the Savannah Party Animals in 2023 —a role he claims he was "born for"— and then finished his 2023 summer in the Atlantic League with the Staten Island FerryHawks. Ethan's story is far from over and there will definitely be a part two to this interview.

Lenny Pietersz is a native of Curaçao who has always dreamed of playing professional baseball. He recently achieved that goal, but he had to invest in himself by flying to Japan to play in the Japan Winter League in November of 2022. After two junior college baseball seasons in the U.S.A., Lenny signed up for the California Winter League in hopes to gain a pro contract. After that didn't pan out, he signed up with Baseball Jobs Overseas and soon found himself playing in second division Austria. Lenny loved this experience but continued to pursue his dream of playing in a true professional league. That is when he discovered the Japan Winter League. In this interview with Lenny, he talks about his experience at the Japan Winter League and how that led to apro contact with an independent professional baseball team in Japan. Japan Winter League 2023 Registration: https://www.japanleague.co.jp/ BBJO discount code: BBJO2023

If you're interested in playing baseball in Japan, the Japan Winter League is the perfect place to start. The JWL is a showcase league running from November 23-December 24th. The purpose of the league is to get players exposure to professional opportunities throughout Japan. Every game played will be livestreamed with Rapsodo data so that scouts can follow the games remotely. With scouts representing teams from the MLB, NPB, and Japanese Independent Leagues with on-the-spot signing power, the JWL is the perfect platform for you to get signed at the next level. In this episode, Dave and Jimmy interview league president Issei Washizaki—via translator Hiro Sakanshi—and find out everything about the Japan Winter League that an interested player would want to know.

https://baseballjobsoverseas.com/kaleb-bowman-podcast-interview/ A former Kaleb Appalachian State standout, Kaleb Bowman found himself undrafted upon graduation and made the decision to travel the world and play baseball. This journey landed him in Canada that very same summer after graduating, playing in a five-team semi-professional men's league in New Brunswick. After that season, Kaleb hopped on a plane to play for Surfers Paradise Baseball Club on the beautiful gold coast of Australia. After back-to-back very successful seasons overseas —including a single-season strikeout record in Australia— Kaleb took the summer of 2020 off along with the 2020-2021 winter. It was during this time that Kaleb worked hard at taking his game to a new level while also signing with the Regensburg Legionäre, a premiere club in Germany that has produced the likes of Max Kepler and Donald Lutz. Kaleb's hard work paid off, as he was named the German Bundesliga "Pitcher of the Year" in 2021 and 2022 in his two seasons with Regensburg and the league MVP & Triple Crown (Pitching) winner in 2022. Kaleb leveraged this success, and his Twitter account, to get noticed by the Gastonia Honey Hunters of the Atlantic League, the team with which he signed and finished the 2022 season. However, the success didn't stop there as Kaleb picked up where he left off, despite pitching against many players with MLB experience. In his 10 innings of relief with the Honey Hunters, Kaleb struck out 11 and produced a stingy era of 0.90. This didn't go unnoticed and led to his first-ever MLB contract, signing with the Milwaukee Brewers to play the 2023 season. In this episode, Kaleb dives into his unusual path to the minor leagues including his off-season program and how he took his game to a new level. He also shares how he utilized Twitter to get noticed by pro scouts. A strong theme throughout this episode is Kaleb's strong mental approach to his career, with an open mind towards overseas baseball while still grinding towards the MLB dream. 2023 UPDATE: "Spring training went great," said Bowman on April 5th, 2023. "I got to go out early, so I was there for 6 weeks. About 40 minor leaguers arrived when the big leaguers did and got the extra spring training. Including practicing with the big leaguers and getting to pick their brains some." Kaleb was fortunate enough to back up 10 of the big league games. "Sure enough, my first ever affiliate appearance was in a big league (spring) game!" Kaleb came in with a man on 3rd and two outs, facing the Guardians' #6 prospect Bryan Rocchio. He threw 3 pitches for 3 strikes and a strikeout. With about 3 weeks left, the rest of the minor league players came and they continued to scrimmage, play other affiliates, and practice daily. "It was just an awesome experience that I was told by many different people to just soak it all in, and I sure did that."

After wrapping up his college career at Georgetown University with a successful senior campaign which saw him hit .344 and lead the Big East Conference in slugging percentage, Steve Anderson was hopeful of being drafted. When that didn't come to fruition, he opted to forgo independent pro offers to pursue a business career as a management consultant. In 2018, Steve started his own consulting business (CoLo Consulting) and has been operating the company remotely while living in 10+ countries around the globe. Steve's nomadic journey has taken him to Germany, Czech Republic, England, Hungary, the Netherlands, Georgia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Japan, Colombia, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Canada among other places. In 2021, while living in Canada, Steve decided to return to competitive baseball with the Fredericton Astros, who compete in the Capital City Intermediate Baseball League in New Brunswick, Canada. This led to a conversation with a good friend and BBJO member who had played overseas, prompting him to sign up for a membership. In 2022, Steve played for the Montpellier Barracudas on the south shore of France while continuing to work mobile. He made the most of that summer by joining the first-ever Baseball Jobs Overseas tournament team at both Finkstonball in Austria and Prague Baseball Week in the Czech Republic. Since the recording of this interview, Steve has gone on to play winter ball in Argentina for the Cordoba Falcons. We invite you to listen to this episode where Steve talks about his thought process as he transitioned from highly competitive college baseball to establishing his own consulting firm, to traveling the world while working mobile, to deciding to take advantage of his mobility with work by combining his love for travel and baseball.

As an indy pro pitcher in the Frontier League and American Association, Tim Brown spent his winters pitching in Australian state leagues — and some time in the ABL— for five straight years. Pitching year-round for five straight years. He even threw a no-hitter in the Frontier League during this time. Then, one day, he decided to forgo his stateside pro career for a full-time overseas travel baseball experience, playing in Europe in the summers and Australia, New Zealand and Argentina in the winters. To date, Tim has spent five winters in Australia, one in New Zealand, and one in Argentina. Since 2017, summers have been spent in the Czech Republic, Germany, Slovenia, Austria, and most recently in 2021 and 2022; Croatia. Tim has re-signed to play in Croatia in 2023 and after recording this episode, he signed to play the 2022-2023 winter in South Africa, the 6th continent he has played baseball on in his lifetime. In this episode, we talk equally about his experiences on the field and off the field, while also diving into his mindset, wisdom, and motivation to continue doing what he is doing at the age of 35. Hosted By: David Burns (@bbjoburnsy) and Jimmy Jensen (@jimboslice38)

https://baseballjobsoverseas.com/ Brett Holtz is an Ivy League first baseman who had his college baseball career ripped away from him by COVID-19 and Alec Lemmon had hung up the cleats and got the travel bug while backpacking in Australia and New Zealand before deciding to combine his new passion with his old passion; baseball. The two soon found themselves as roommates living in a small town in the Czech Republic and became fast friends on their way to a Czech championship.

UCLA Bruin alumnus Eddie Murray continues to work in the winter and play ball in Europe every summer at the age of 34. This includes four summers straight living in a student dorm in the middle of Paris.

In this episode, Baseball Jobs Overseas founder David Burns and co-host Jimmy Jensen interview Jacob Biller, a BBJO member who played his first season overseas in France in 2021 where he won a championship and even managed to get on with the French National Team as a coach for the European Championships in Italy. Jacob is a former NCAA D1 switching hitting shortstop out of Kansas State University who spent the summer at the top of the batting order for the Rouen Huskies, the reigning French champions, joining them at the champions cup in the Czech Republic where Jacob and the Huskies competed again the best teams in Europe, including the top teams from Italy and the Netherlands. What makes this story even more special, is that Jacob was a bit of a gamble to bring in as an import since he had not competed since graduating in 2018. In order for teams to roll the dice on someone who hasn't competed in that long and whom they haven't ever seen play firsthand, they need to have something special within their BBJO profile. So aside from coming from a big D1 school, what was it about Jacob that caught their eye????? It was his coaching experience. Ever since graduating he had been coaching at the junior college level and the Huskies were in the market for someone to help coach at their academy. Bringing over import players who bring a coaching element has always been a theme with clubs in the low to mid leagues in Europe, or the teams at the bottom of say France or Germany, but the trend we are starting to see is that coaching is becoming more and more a part of the profile of many of our members who sign overseas with some of the top clubs or in top leagues.

Seattle University alumna, Lisa Maulden, first took her career overseas in 2015 and never looked back. Her first few seasons overseas were in lower leagues including the Belgian second division and Hungarian Softball League before moving up the ranks to higher-level leagues such as the Dutch Golden League, Premiere Women's league in New Zealand, and the Italian Series A. However, it never dawned on Lisa that she would ever play in the Japanese Softball League, which is a pure professional softball league and considered by some, the best women's softball in the world. Lisa is about to enter her third season in Japan in 2022 and sits down for this interview with us from her apartment in Japan where she lives year-round. She shares her experiences on and off the field and advises others on how to go about playing there and what to expect.

In my previous two podcast interviews with Bryan Ruby, he was not openly gay. Since our last interview, Bryan has come out and is now the only known active, openly gay professional baseball player in the world. His coming out was not just within his friend and family circle but on a national stage when his story was featured on the front page of the sports section of U.S.A. Today and at Dodgers Stadium when announced prior to singing the national anthem this past fall. In this episode, Bryan talks about his fear of jeopardizing his career as a professional baseball player and a country music singer and songwriter by coming out. He also talks about his struggles as a closeted gay baseball player growing up. Although Bryan shy's away from all of the attention, he decided to use it to help broadcast an organization he started to help others athletes in the LGBTQ community titled ProudToBeInBaseball.

https://baseballjobsoverseas.com/ In this second interview with our globetrottin', country-music-singin', pro baseball player, Bryan Ruby, we talk about his experience playing winter ball in Guatemala in the fall/early winter of 2020 during the midst of a second COVID-19 wave and the Mavericks League in Oregon during the summer of 2021. This interview takes place two-thirds of the way through his 2021 season with the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes and shortly after Bryan's life was turned upside down, resulting in a feature of Bryan on the cover of the sports section of USA Today. Make sure to mark January 3rd, 2022 on your calendar as the date we publish our third interview with Bryan where he tells that story.

https://baseballjobsoverseas.com/ Ryan "RJ" Johnson is a player in high demand overseas for a number of reasons and is currently living in the Czech Republic year-round as an import for a club that is on the rise. The former American Association pitcher has re-invented himself as a high-level two-way player overseas and it is paying off as quoted below from the interview. "I said make me an offer I can't refuse and they said 'here's our offer' and I went 'Oh boy!' The money is nice, don't get me wrong, but it was the coaching aspect and being here full time that was the low-hanging fruit."

Lindsay and Nicole Thomas took their twin pitcher-catcher act overseas in 2017, one year after graduating from UNC Greensboro where they were both standout players. A year into NCAA D1 coaching careers, both girls made the decision to put their coaching careers on hold and sign together to play in Vienna, Austria. Their international careers snowballed from there, both as a pair and as individuals. The girls continue to play overseas while doubling as virtual Mental Performance Coaches, a business they started together during the early days of the pandemic. Episode notes: Training Untamed Instagram handle: @training_untamed Correction: Sarah Edwards' email is s.edwards@softballjobsoverseas.com

Pennsylvania-born Bryan Ruby is a baseball player and country music songwriter who has traveled the world playing baseball while continuing with his career in music. Bryan's passion for country music was behind his decision to pass up a D1 baseball scholarship in order to study and play closer to Nashville, the mecca of country music. Bryan eventually wrapped up his college career at a D3 school in upstate New York in 2019 before taking his career overseas. In one of his final college games, Bryan played all 9 positions in a single game and it is this versatility combined with a little networking savviness that led to playing baseball in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Chile and Peru within his first year overseas. In this interview, Bryan talks about his European jet-setting baseball experience and springboarding that adventure to join a crew of international baseball players on a South American baseball journey. Byran also provides some great tips on how he utilized his first overseas experience to draw in multiple offers and further his off-the-field career.

Best known for his unique Tomahawk delivery, former MLB pitcher and Baseball Jobs Overseas member Josh Collmenter talks about his baseball career starting from his childhood, through college, leading to his MLB debut and then overseas to New Zealand. We talk about who is influencers were along the way, his "Tomahawk" delivery, making it to the MLB with a sub-90 mph fastball, his MLB debut experience, advice to his younger self and current aspiring pitchers, his experience in New Zealand and the Australian Baseball League, his future plans and much more.

After the summer of 2000 playing baseball in Vienna, Austria, Canadian baseball player Nick DeForest decided to forgo his final two years of college baseball eligibility and make Vienna his home. Twenty years later, Nick sits down to tell his story on the IBC podcast including what career in Austria he ended up in and how BBJO founder David Burns and Nick’s first encounter ended up on the front page of the Vienna newspaper.

In this episode, we hear the story of two corner infielders/ power-hitters from two different corners of the U.S. who first met in 2019 on a softball field in Austria as import players, leading their new team to the Austrian Softball League Championships.   Brittany McGuire (Florida Gulf Coast University) hit a clutch, come-from-behind grand slam late in game 1 of the best-of-three semi-final series against the reigning champs, while Kailyn Campbell (Central Washington University) hit for the cycle in game 2 of the series en route to securing the sweep.   The duo were the only two imports for the Wr. Neustadt Crazy Chicklets in 2019, so Brittany had to assume the role as a two-way player, despite not having pitched in college. Despite the lack of imported collegiate level pitching, the 3-4 combo of Kailyn and Brittany brought a much-needed 1-2 punch to the offense of a young Chicklets team, a team based in a small town of approximately 43,000 which is located about 30 minutes outside of Vienna, Austria. This was Kailyn’s second season as the Chicklets import, and she welcomed the protection in the lineup that Brittany brought, which was missing in 2018.   Although very similar in what they bring to the table as a softball player, this single season experience will be a different moment in their softball career scrapbook. For Brittany, this was a one-and-done experience as she moves on to pursue a coaching career in the U.S. whereas, for Kailyn, this second season overseas is just one of many more to come.

baseballjobsoverseas.com/ New York native Ryan Rupp did not play college baseball but took advantage of his dual citizenship with Austria to get his foot in the door in second division Austria in 2013. From there, he worked hard on his craft and in 2017 he won the Best Pitcher award and his second championship in the first division of Austria with the Attnang Athletics. He also became one of the go-to starters for the Austrian national team. In 2019 he won his third Austrian championship, this time with his new team, the Dornbirn Indians. In recent years, as Ryan approached the age of 30, he struggled with the pressure to start a career off the field and leave baseball behind. He found himself in New York, unhappy and with extreme bouts of anxiety. In this interview, we discuss how he was able to get through that, and the steps he is taking now to enjoy his summers of baseball while also progressing off of the field. Some of the topics discussed in this episode include: The different path of his baseball career and how he was able to develop into the pitcher he is today despite no college or professional experience. Finding success with the Austrian National Team and in the first Austrian division alongside teammate/coach and founder David Burns. How to continue to be in demand even when your numbers are not the best. How to switch from the anxiety and pressure that comes with starting a career and leaving baseball behind to doing what you love while also progressing off of the field.

https://baseballjobsoverseas.com/ In this episode of the International Baseball Community Podcast, I hop on a call with club representatives from around Europe to discuss the current status of the Coronavirus in their country, the effect it has had on their baseball seasons thus far, and any further insight into when the seasons could possibly start. Specifically, I speak with Scotty of Korlarka Praha (Czech Extraliga), Eric of the Bonn Capitals (German Bundesliga), Mauro of T&A San Marino (Italian Series A), David of the Metz Cometz (French First Division), Trevor of the Stockholm Monarchs (Swedish Elite Series), Ron of Neptunus Rotterdam (Dutch Major League A.K.A. Honbal Hoofdklasse) and Andreas of the Attnang Athletics (Baseball League Austria).

David Burns and Jimmy Jensen from Baseball Jobs Overseas discuss how to position yourself for success in receiving offers from clubs overseas and once signed, how to make the most of that opportunity to further your career. This episode is particularly beneficial to those players who have yet to play professional baseball and are looking overseas as a career option but are still looking to play at the highest level possible.

https://baseballjobsoverseas.com/ After a lustrous career as an international import player and coach, Owen Reid decided to go to work for himself as an International Baseball Consultant and Mobile baseball coach. Now settled and based in Singapore, Owen has now traveled to five different continents and 21 countries as a baseball coach including some very unknown baseball markets such as the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, and Kyrgyzstan. His international baseball story began back in 2009, when fresh out of college, Owen signed on with the Vienna Wanderers in Austria as an import player. This led to his first gig as a youth coach the following winter in New Zealand, then in 2010 as a player-coach with another team in Austria, eventually settling in Australia from 2010 through 2014. It is in Australia where Owen's international coaching career really began to take shape after playing and coaching with three different teams, assuming a role with the Perth Heat in player development and then as their operations and marketing manager. It was also in Australian where Owen met his wife, who continues to fully support his international baseball endeavours to-date. The couple moved to Singapore in 2014 when Owen landed an Operations job at a major training facility, where he led a staff of coaches and rubbed shoulders with the likes of Albert Pujos and Augie Garrido. In 2016 Owen found that his passions were no longer in line with his role at the facility, and this is where he found himself at a crossroads in his career, unsure what he wanted to do next, but knew it was in coaching. This is when Owen decided to take a risk and start Reid Baseball and market himself to the baseball world as a mobile coach and international baseball consultant. This role encompasses a number of different services including one on one-on-one coaching, coaching small groups, running specialized clinics, working with and creating training programs and curriculums for teams or leagues, coach education, building academies and mental conditioning. The highlights of his international baseball endeavours include coaching in Dhaka, Bangladesh where he had to take a rickshaw from where he was staying through the dirty, crowded and polluted streets to the school where he was coaching or when he went to Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia to coach a group of kids on a small soccer field tucked in between two enormous rock formations which as he described '"ooked like out of a movie." Some of the takeaways for baseball people from all different aspects of the game including how to: -Open these doors and build your resume -Build your own baseball brand and found his own post-playing career baseball path -Connect with organizations around the globe -Work with kids of various groups sizes who don't speak English

https://baseballjobsoverseas.com/ American born and Wofford College alum, Eric Brenk, has been living and playing baseball in Germany since obtaining his dual citizenship in 2014, only 4 months after graduating from college. Eric not only helped bring home a championship for his Bonn Capitals in 2018, he has also been a major player for the German National Team, most recently at the 2019 European Championships, a stepping stone tournament to the 2020 Olympic Qualifier. Less than an hour from Cologne, Eric lives year-round in Bonn where he is heavily involved in baseball and is currently working for an international company after obtaining his masters in Germany. In this episode, Eric and BBJO founder David Burns discuss the application process for dual citizenship and how having dual citizenship has benefited Eric from a baseball and life standpoint. We also dive into the lifestyle and quality of life when living and playing baseball in Germany.

http://www.baseballjobsoverseas.com There are a large number of baseball players overseas these days looking to take their career overseas with a large variety of backgrounds. Those who may not have the strongest of backgrounds or the strongest of stats, may have to take matters into their own hands to get their foot in the door. Dave and Jimmy tackle that topic in this episode.

The Australian Baseball League has made huge strides in recent years, with the expansion to include a team from Korea and New Zealand in 2018 as well as the signings of former MLB players such Josh Collmenter, Gift Ngoepe and Pete Kozma. The league also featured Japanese NPB stud pitcher Shota Imanaga and some of Europe's top talent in Markus Solbach (GER), Alex Maestri (ITL), and Dwayne Kemp (NED) who all had standout seasons. Rounded out with a number of young affiliated players, top indy pro players, and top Australian talent, you have a very unique professional league that more and more professional players are looking to as a winter option. With that being said, we at Baseball Jobs Overseas receive a lot of inquiries from players wanting to play in the ABL. In this episode, David and Jimmy discuss what it takes to sign in the ABL, and how some players have worked their way into the Australian Baseball League through the state leagues in the past and have gone on to sign affiliated contracts. This episode provides content relevant to any player at any stage in their career who is considering Australia as a winter option, whether a college grad, released professional or current professional.

http://www.baseballjobsoverseas.com Jimmy Jensen went from cut from his high school baseball team, to All-American, to men's league baseball before he decided to give overseas a try. Little did he know that signing his first overseas contract in 2015 would change his life forever in multiple ways. List to part two of his story, continuing where we left off at the end of his first season on IBC Podcast episode 67

http://www.baseballjobsoverseas.com Baseball New Zealand CEO Ryan Flynn returns for the third time, this time to provide an update on the exciting times going on in the world of baseball in New Zealand, in particular the new Australian Baseball League professional franchise team based in Auckland. Some of the topics discussed in this episode are: Growth of baseball in New Zealand in recent years New Australian Baseball League franchise team, the Auckland Tuatara and what the name means Signing of Josh Collmenter through Baseball Jobs Overseas and the impact of having a marquee player and MLB vet such as Josh on board Opportunity for imports with the Auckland Tuatara (ABL Franchise) and the new ABL roster point system Anticipated growth of baseball New Zealand and how import players and coaches will play a role at the club level Baseball Jobs Overseas role with future importing to New Zealand

In this interview with professional pitcher Arik Sikula, he speaks of his experiences both in Australia and Colombia pitching in the winter and why these experiences helped him improve as a pitcher and an athlete.

Three years ago on IBC Podcast Episode #26 I interviewed Zak Colby who was fresh off of his first season playing independent professional baseball in Japan in the Shikoku Island League. Zak has continued to play there working his way into a foreign recruitment role for the whole league while playing for the Kochi Fighting Dragons. His biggest signing to date was Manny Ramirez who he signed to play for the Fighting Dragons for the 2017 season, to hit fourth behind Zak in the lineup. In this episode Zak tells us all about the league, the recruitment process and what they look for in an import, and finally, the signing of and playing alongside Manny Ramirez.

Recently one of the top pitchers in independent professional baseball decided to give up the lifestyle that comes with playing pro baseball in the U.S., which he said he loves, in order to play club baseball in the Czech Republic which play mostly on weekends. Sound crazy? Soon to be 30 years old, Tim Brown has been playing professional baseball for 8 years now and while still at the top of his game, has decided to play baseball in Europe in 2017. "At this point, I just want to travel and see the world and this is the perfect way to do it," when asked why he has given up the lifestyle of the independent professional baseball player for European baseball which plays on weekends. Tim Brown has had a very successful U.S. independent professional baseball career which includes a no-hitter in the Frontier League. In fact, his multiple seasons of a sub 3.00 era had him labeled in a 2015 article as "One of the best pitchers in independent professional baseball history." Tim claims that a big part of his success comes from playing baseball in Australia during the winter for the past five years which allowed him to face live hitters year-round. In this episode, Tim walks us through his decision to use overseas baseball to develop his game while also using it as a tool to see the world. He also provides great insight from the perspective of a professional player playing the game in a completely different environment.

http://www.baseballjobsoverseas.com/e68 Daniel Catalan had a successful college career playing with Holy Name University where hit a very respectable .282 and a very nice OBP in his senior year of .410. He also led HNU in triples in both his seasons there and did not commit a single error in the outfield. Like many talented college graduates, professional teams did not come knocking on his door. So he gave overseas baseball a try and signed up for a profile at the International Baseball Community website. Weeks went by and crickets. Why? Why are overseas clubs also not interested? Daniel surely has a lot to bring to the table and could definitely do well in any league Europe has to offer. The number 1 reason why: he is an outfielder, the position in least demand overseas. In this interview Daniel explains how he earned a spot playing on a club from one of the most visiting cities in Europe, Barcelona and following that how he got to play in the South American Baseball Championship in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

http://www.baseballjobsoverseas.com Overseas professional import Jimmy Jensen tells his story how he made his way up from cut from his high school baseball team travelling the world playing baseball.

Josh Wyant grew up playing baseball in North Carolina and was never the standout player but always had a passion for the game and worked hard at getting better. He was a three sport athlete between cross country, baseball and swimming and as college grew closer, he was told his best shot was at running. In his senior year of high school he moved to a new high school and was given the opportunity to improve himself to the level he needed through a coach who did more for him in that one season than any other coach in his life, Coach Pete Hardee. Between Josh's hard work and dedication and Coach Hardee's guidance, he was able to pursue a college baseball career with stops at Winston Salem State,Wilkes Community College and LeMoyne Owen College. Although these college baseball programs were within some of the lowest ranked conferences in NCAA baseball, Josh was able to put up some good numbers, even when playing some of the top schools in the nation during non conference games. "Never in my life was I a highly recruited player so I basically made the decision to go overseas as soon as I heard about it," replied Josh when asked about why he decided to play overseas. "I was well aware pro ball was never going to be an option for me and if I was going to keep playing baseball after college I was going to have to make my own opportunities just like I had done for college." During the fall of his senior year (2013) of college baseball Josh heard about the option to play in Europe after stumbling upon the IBC website while doing some research and signed up without even thinking much about it. However to Josh's surprise, within a few weeks he had emails from clubs from five different countries about coming to play.......

In 1995 Ryan Schurman was a 10th round draft pick of the Atlanta Braves. Twenty years later he is married with a baby boy and living in Germany and coaches cricket. Ryan is another remarkable story of how playing baseball overseas can not only be a way of extending a playing career, but also a life changing experience.

In 2012, Tanner Leighton, the #4 ranked NAIA prospect in the country from The Masters College in California, was one of many players in the independent ball system who had been in contact with scouts during his college tenure, yet had no luck come June. After a season of Independent ball, playing with both the Washington Wild Things and London Rippers, Leighton went to play winter ball in Australia for the Melville Braves of Perth. Tanner then spent the 2013 summer season playing with the Solingen Alligators of the German Bundesliga before signing again to play a second season in Australia. However, Tanner was pulled aside by Australian customs officials upon his return and spent two days in a detention centre as he did not have the proper visa to return for a second year. The end result was a three year ban from Australia which left Tanner without an baseball option for the next three winters. Tanner returned to Germany for a second season with the Alligators, this time leading them to a German Championship. While in Germany, he spoke to another import in Germany who also had been through the same experience in Australia when also entering without a proper visa. This is when he learned of South Africa as a good winter option and he soon found himself in touch with the Durbanville Villains of Cape Town, a club that is known for importing players out of the German Bundesliga. This interview took place in the during the 2015-2016 South African season and Tanner's second season with the Villians. Tanner tells his story and also answers a lot of questions about baseball in South Africa.

Will Thorp grew up playing baseball in British Columbia, Canada where he also started his college career at a local junior college. After a successful freshman year, he earned a chance to play at Lewis-Clark State College, one of the top NAIA baseball programs. In 2014, upon graduating from LC, Will decided to hang up his cleats. "I had finished up college on a rough note. My 4 years at LC taught me a ton about myself, how to handle situations, how to look at the game in a complete different view and be a warrior. Unfortunately I could never prove myself to the coaches offensively and had minimal ABs in my years there." Will did what many young western Canadians do, give in to the temptation to earn big bucks and went to work in the oil rigs up north. With not much to do other than work and sleep over the course of a few months, Will had plenty of time to dream about baseball. It is thus no surprise that without hesitation Will jumped on an opportunity presented to him by an old teammate to go play baseball in Australia with the Northern Districts Reds.

For the 2015-2016 winter season, there were a total of nine IBC members sign contracts in the Capital Territory State League based in Canberra, Australia. This is one of six state leagues in Australia that regularly import baseball players from abroad. This interview is with Graham Vickers, the president of the Ainslie Bears, a club who have utilized the website to import players over the past couple of seasons. Here is an earlier interview from 2015 with Andrew Medeiros, an IBC member and former Ainslie Bear from the 2014-2015 season. Between the two interviews you can get a good idea of what the life of a baseball import to Canberra may be like on and off the field.

Sam Siddall is a graduate from the Midland University (NAIA) where he spent three years as a relief pitcher with limited action. Post college, in 2013, he was playing in a mens league in Alberta, Canada when a friend presented him with an opportunity to coach youth in Australia after receiving the opportunity himself and having to decline. Sam had some coaching experience but no experience as a head coach at the time. He jumped on the opportunity and soon found himself in Adelaide, Australia with the Northern Districts Reds coaching the U17 and U15 teams while playing for their second division mens team.....

After finishing up the 2010 season with Almere and Hamburg and achieving his long term goal of pitching the Dutch Head Class, Boomer was undecided what to do about his baseball career and was leaning towards focusing on finishing law school and getting a job. After back-to-back years with no offseason and pitching 7-9 innings every start, his arm definitely needed a rest. However during the 2010 summer while on break from pitching in Holland, Boomer visited a girl living in Budapest (Hungary) whom he met while in Italy. While visiting her, he looked up baseball in Budapest online and found a local club of which he contacted by email with the help of his friend as a translator. They invited him out to practice and Boomer soon found himself practicing with grown men at a level he had never seen before, which was an interesting experience in itself and an eye opener. The Hungarians were immediately amazed as they had never seen anything close to a mid to upper 80's fastball and said to Boomer that they "would be honoured to have a chance to try and hit him." Boomer obliged and proceeded to mow them down throwing at about 75% velocity. Soon after they offered him a job to coach the national team for the following year but Boomer did not take the offer too seriously at the time because he was still playing for Almere and had not thought that far ahead about his playing career.......

In IBC episode 58, Justin "Boomer" Prinstein walked us through the beginning of his international professional baseball story which was a wild one with lots of ups and downs with stops in Belgium and Israel. This was all in the span of one season as well. He returned home for only a month before committing to the Southern Districts Hawks of the South Australian Baseball League for second half of the 2007-2008 winterball season. He arrived at the beginning of December, well into their season, just in time to qualify for the playoffs. However he had to play one miserable inning after being on a journey for 45 hours just to make this qualifying game. Luckily for Boomer, he had the next month off as the league went on break for Christmas. This gave him time to adjust to the time zone and settle into Adelaide with his new family, the Crabbs, home to his Aussie teammate and roommate Adam from the Israel Baseball League. Boomer took full advantage of the month off and did a lot of travelling in South Australia, enjoyed the wine that the province is famous for and managed to meet an Australian model by simply using his Detroit accent. "You don't need to be a good looking guy or even a professional baseball player, if you just have an accent in Australia as an American, it seems to do wonders for you. I was definitely batting out of my league there, " said Boomer of his good fortune, something that was rare in his overseas adventures up to this point in his story.

More stories at: http://www.baseballjobsoverseas.com Justin "Boomer" Prinstein has been involved in baseball overseas since he first came to Europe in 2006 as an import pitcher. The former George Washington University pitcher his junior and senior years in the shadows of some of his teammates. In fact, half of his team from his junior year were drafted. He was a bit undersized (5'11") and his high 80's fastball was figured to be maxed out as far as scouts were concerned. In 2006, upon graduation, the assistant coach at GW and former international player brought it to Boomer's attention that overseas would be a good option for him. Boomer's mind frame back then was to just "Keep playing somewhere and something good will happen", after witnessing players close to his level at pro tryouts get signed and work their way up to the AAA level. With the help of his former coach, Boomer sent his resume out to numerous clubs in Europe and received a number of offers. He decided to accept an offer from a Belgium club because financially it was the better offer and it was close to the Netherlands and the Dutch Major League, his longer term goal. At this point of his life, Boomer had never travelled outside North America and did not know what to expect. In fact, little was communicated between him and the club as this pre-dates Facebook, Skype and any other form of popular communication available today. The club, who will be left un-named, was also a little uninformed of Boomer's background and who he was as a person. "I thought you were taller," were the first words that Boomer heard from the club representative who picked him up from the airport. This was probably the first red flag that this club may not be for him.