We are going to conclude a week with lots of interviews with Swedish pitcher Joakim Claesson. He began the season with the German club HSV Stealers. In May he returned to Stockholm for the beginning of the Elitserien, where only was stopped by the Karlskoga Bats in the finals in September. In between in July he was one of the key pieces for the Swedish National Team en route to their impressive fifth place finish at the European Championship in Germany. He was on the mound, when the team of head coach Dennis Cook handed Italy its lone loss in the tournament.
Mister-Baseball: You’re from a baseball-crazy family. Give our readers a little summary. Who is involved in baseball and how? How did you end up playing baseball?
Joakim Claesson: Yeah it’s pretty funny actually. My dad, a former national team player, is the soul of the ball club here in Stockholm and is working with our cadet team right now. He’s great with the kids, and has been working with youth baseball in Sweden for over 30 years now, with great success including a couple of championships (including this year’s). Both my brothers plays, and me and my younger brother Jakob formed the starting rotation this year for Stockholm, and we both played on the National Team together this year which was great, especially since we returned home with 2 W’s each. My older brother Thomas, who was the league’s top closer in 2006 didn’t play this year, but he’s still active as a board member and treasurer for the club and is a great asset to the club. Finally my mom is actually the president of the ball club; she runs things well and has made our organization move forward each of the last 3 years when she’s been at the helm of things. We are all involved in lots of the club’s activities and business and for a long time it was a family matter, but luckily we’ve outgrown making decisions at the dinner table, and have a good and stable organization now.
It felt sort of natural to start playing baseball since I was always at the field growing up watching my father, and later my older brother play. We live pretty close to the field as well and although I played other sports growing up I always had a special passion for baseball that I wanted to pursue.
MRBB: If you would have to give a scouting report about yourself, what would you say? What pitches can you throw and which do you trust in a game?
JC: Well I would say I’m pretty standard as far as what pitches I throw with a fastball, change-up, curve ball. In Sweden I throw majority fastballs, but I would say my change-up is probably my best pitch, and internationally I have to vary my pitches a lot more. I think my strength is really locating the ball when I need to and being mentally tough and very competitive. I think the last couple of years I’ve really developed my mental game and my ability to rise in tough situations.
MRBB: You had a quite eventful season, starting in the German Baseball-Bundesliga. How did you end up in Hamburg and how did you like your stint there?
JC: I enjoyed my stay in Hamburg; they had a great bunch of guys and made me feel very welcome. Andy Berglund who works as an MLBI envoy coach and had been in Germany in 09 really laid the ground work and then they were talking to a team mate of mine Peter Johannessen who ended up playing for Godo in the Italian League before getting in touch with me. Andy played and coached with us here in Stockholm when we won our first championship in 2008. Originally they asked me to stay the whole season, but we were already so far in our plans with Stockholm, and I had school so I decided to just make it a month-long stint.
MRBB: Did this experience help you back in Sweden?
JC: Well pitching well is always good for your confidence, and I think getting some early outings in was nice before the Swedish season started, as well as facing some good hitters and being in some close games. The downside was that I might have thrown a little bit to much down there and my arm wasn’t really ready for it since I hadn’t even been outside before I went to Germany because we has such a cold winter with lots of snow last year in Sweden. So when I came home my arm was hurting a little bit and I ended up missing 1-2 starts.
MRBB: Would you consider leaving the Elitserien for a whole season?
JC: Yeah I would consider it if the right opportunity came along. I sort of miss the playing every day feeling of college, and if a good opportunity came along I would give it some serious thought. The team in Stockholm is pretty competitive though I have to say, with some great guys, so it would have to be something that could take me to the next level of baseball.
MRBB: During the summer you played for the Swedish National Team at the European Championship. How did you like the tournament in general and how important was it for Swedish Baseball to finish 5th and to beat Italy?
JC: I had a great time playing in the Euros this summer as well as the Italian Baseball Week the week before to prepare. It’s always fun to go on these trips with your friends and live like professionals for a while playing every day, it was especially cool this year because we had so many Stockholm guys on the team, and in particular it was fun to play with my younger brother. I felt like it was a well organized tournament with some good games. We played some really great games beating GB, Croatia, Italy, and France. It was important to finish 5th so we didn’t have to play in the qualifier this year, but off course when you’re so close to winning a medal, or even taking 4th to win a spot in the World Cup you’re not completely satisfied either. At least I’m not. But beating Italy was definitely important. It was like we had much of Sweden’s baseball future on our shoulders going into that game. And it was great for us to see that nothing is impossible and to show people at home and within the federation that when we put our best out there we can compete with anybody.
MRBB: Looking back at the crazy game against Italy with postponements and rain delays, how did you stay focused during the delays and what did you think when Mario Chiarini and Giuseppe Mazzanti restarted the game after the two-hour break with back-to-back homeruns?
JC: Well it was definitely crazy with all those delays, and I actually pitched an inning the day before when we only got one inning in. I think at the end of it I had warmed up a total of 5 times in 2 days. My main attitude was just to focus on what I could control and just stay informed about what was going on with regards to starting times etc. There’s nothing you can do about the rain. As a team I think we stayed focused and we always had the feeling that we wanted to be there more than the Italians, so anything out of the ordinary would work to our advantage. I also had a good dialogue with our pitching coach Scott Scudder which helped as well. Of course there was part of me that hoped they would just call the game after the 5th.
When they came out swinging in the 6th I just tried to stay calm and focus on making good pitches, because the previous ones were both mistakes from my part. You just have to regain your focus and try and keep the ball down in the zone and really focus on getting ground balls, especially when the park is small like the one in Stuttgart. But I knew I needed to get out of that inning with a lead in order for our team to not lose all of the momentum we had built up.
MRBB: Which influence had Dennis Cook on your performance individually and on the team success? Did he give you any pointers?
JC: Both Dennis and the other new coaches Steven Labay, Scott Scudder, together with Doug Skiles who’s been with the team for a long time now, did a great job the whole tournament, and during the week leading up to it. I think Dennis came in with exactly the right attitude that we needed, and to see an ex-professional who we just met get so excited about Swedish baseball really set the tone for what we had to do. For me personally the biggest take away working with Dennis and our pitching coach Scott was how to compete and win with the stuff I had. I think the fact that we shifted focus from what we didn’t have, to how to win with what we had was critical. Scott helped me make some smaller adjustment on my pitches, and I think it was important for the whole team that we didn’t try to change anything major, but made some small adjustments on an individual basis laid the foundation for our success. But the biggest thing with Dennis and Scott to me was mental, and getting inspired to compete. I really hope Dennis, Scott, Steven, and Dougie can continue to work with the national team, they were great for us this year.
MRBB: After the European Championship you didn’t pitch much in the reminder of the regular season in the Elitserien. What was the reason for it?
JC: After the heavy work load I had in the Euros my shoulder suffered from some serious fatigue. I had to throw a lot within a short period of time, and like I said I had had problems earlier in the season as well after my stint in Germany, and my shoulder didn’t react to well. I had some serious shoulder pains and it actually took until the week before the playoffs before I could throw without pain again.
MRBB: Stockholm didn’t win the title for the first time in three years, losing in a thrilling final to Karlskoga. Obviously it was a disappointment for you, but now after a few weeks since the championship series are you in general satisfied with your season?
JC: Yeah losing in the finals was pretty disappointing. I felt we had a better team than probably both the previous years, but sometimes you have to tip your cap as well. Karlskoga played a really good final series and there were some really good close games. Overall I think we played great most of the year. We hit the ball real well, played good defense, and even when I couldn’t pitch Jakob and the other guys stepped up, getting the job done. We managed to win the regular season for the first time in club history, but unfortunately that’s not when the trophy is handed out.
MRBB: What are your plans for 2011?
JC: Personally I’m not quite sure yet, I was tempted to go with some of my other team mates who went and played in Australia this winter, but decided to stay home because of school. There’s been a few foreign clubs from Italy and Germany interested, and I would definitely be open to consider going abroad. At the same time I will graduate with a master’s degree from the Stockholm School of Economics this spring, so we’ll see where that takes me as well. Either way it should be an interesting year.
As far as for the Stockholm Baseball Club, we’re working hard right now trying to outline the direction we want to head in the future as a ball club. Hopefully we can return most of our Swedish players, and have a strong enough economy that we can add an import player to help our team regain the championship. It’s all about trying to improve every year, both on the individual level and as an organization.
Mister-Baseball thanks Joakim Claesson for taking time to answer our questions.
Photo: © Swedish Baseball and Federation (top right, pitching for Stockholm), Ezio Ratti/FIBS (bottom left, pitching for Sweden in Italian Baseball Week 2010)