by Mainz Athletics
After Nils Hartkopf returned to his home club, the Solingen Alligators, and Raef Hobbs Brown joined the Saarlouis Hornets for the 2010 season the Athletics were looking for a Shortstop for the upcoming season.
They filled the vacant position with the 29 year old Daisuke Ikenaga from Japan.
Ikenaga played for the Athletics in 2006, where he had a batting average of .233 and a fielding average of .946.
After 2006 he played in the Golden League in the US for one season and went on to play in Australia. Most recently he played in an independent league in Japan.
“We are happy to have Daisuke back in Mainz. He is a great Shortstop with an outstanding work ethic, that our young player can learn a lot from. Daisuke also pitched when he played in Australia where he did not walk anybody in 10.2 Innings, which gives us hope that he will be able to support our young pitching staff around veteran Manuel Möller.”
Says sports director and assistant coach Ulli Wermuth.
Two more addition will complete the roster of the Athletics.
Julius Spann and Christian Decher will come up from the farm team of the Athletics.
Decher was a member of the German junior national team last year and the winning pitcher of the final of the German junior championship. The 19 year old is currently injured with a broken hand, but will be back for the start of the season.
The 20 year old Julius Spann is a pitcher/outfielder that mainly played high school baseball in Philadelphia last season.
The well structured farm system of the Athletics has paid off, 12 of the 17 players on the roster made their way into the Bundesliga through their own farm teams.
Complete 2010 Roster Mainz Athletics:
| Lastname | Firstname | Position | Bats/Throws | Nationality |
| Boldt | Max | P, IF | R/R | GER |
| Decher | Christian | P | R/R | GER |
| Doll | Max | P | L/L | GER |
| Ikenaga | Daisuke | SS,P | R/R | JPN |
| Kipphan | Martin | 1B, DH | R/R | GER |
| Klein | Daniel | P | R/R | GER |
| Kotowski | Kevin | C, OF | L/R | GER |
| Larson | Mike | OF | L/R | CAN |
| Lastinger | Andreas | C | R/R | GER |
| Möller | Manuel | P | R/R | GER |
| Muschik | Enzo | OF, P | R/R | GER |
| Sasaki | Shu | C | R/R | JPN |
| Schewe | Hendrick | OF | R/R | GER |
| Spann | Julius | P, OF | R/R | GER |
| Stahlmann | Tim | 1B, P | R/R | GER |
| Stöcklin | Janni | P, IF | R/R | GER |
| Weichert | Nici | IF | R/R | GER |
| Head Coach | ||||
| Cae Santos | USA | |||
| Assistant Coaches | ||||
| Ulli Wermuth | GER | |||
| Janucz Radicke | GER | |||
| Physio | ||||
| Ulrich Marth | GER |
Photo: © Manfred Holzhauser