Solingen Alligators
The Solingen Alligators won the title in the northern division in the Baseball-Bundesliga last year and reached the semi-finals of the German championship, where they got eliminated by champion-to-be Heidenheim Heidekoepfe in five games. Solingen also will host a European Cup Qualifier in June. During the winter the team of head coach Andy Fleischacker lost their best pitcher and best player in Enorbel Marquez-Ramirez (Rimini) and Chris Beck (Heidenheim). Also not coming back is slugger Matthew Pali (USA?) and third baseman Christian Nsien (Bonn).
Nils Hartkopf (Mainz) and Andre Hughes (HCAW) return to the Alligators, while management also brought in imports Josh Rickards (Marist University) and Damon Lessler to reinforce the roster. Rickards and Hughes will be the starting pitchers. Lessler replaces Beck at short. Hartkopf is going to take over at second, so Dominik Wulf can move to his regular position at the hot corner. Possibly a third American will be signed later this season similar to the move they made last year with Pali, who arrived in May.
It is not going to be easy for the Alligators to defend first place in the north. On paper their offense looks a bit weaker due to the losses of Beck and Pali. Obviously it isn’t easy to replace a pitcher like Marquez-Ramirez on any staff, even though Hughes and Rickards should ease the departure of the Cuba-born southpaw.
Paderborn Untouchables
Thanks to their top-notch facilities in Paderborn with three batting cages, an indoor infield and a weight room the Untouchables had the perfect opportunities to work out all winter and are willing to battle Solingen for the top position in the north. In 2009 they had to settle for second place after the regular season and lost to the Tornados in the quarterfinals. Former Houston Astros minor leaguer Daniel Meier and fellow University of Portland graduate Nik Kosach were added in March to replace last year’s American trio Mike Reed, Chris Balatico and Gavin Ng (all three returned to US).
Kosach is taking over behind the plate. Meier is going to play at third and is the second starting pitcher besides Eugen Heilmann. The team, which is still led by coaches Stefan Fechtig and Octavio Medina (still the shortstop), had a nice preseason, defeating the Dutch club Tex Town Tigers and the Alligators to show off their strength. The Untouchables hope that the hard work will pay off, so they can not only reach the playoffs, but also get a shot at the championship.
Dortmund Wanderers
After reaching the playoffs for a second straight year followed again with the elimination by the Heidekoepfe in the quarterfinals, the Wanderers will enter the 2010 season in the Baseball-Bundesliga with a new head coach. Matt Kemp takes over for Jens Hawlitzky, who joined the HSV Stealers during the offseason. Kemp is in Dortmund since 2008 and will continue to man the mound for the second game each week as the starting pitcher.
Also back is catcher and offensive force Trevor Howell. Additionally they are bringing in an Untouchables battery of Dennis Stechmann and Michael Gollan. Stechmann is also a candidate to start in game one since Rene Herlitzius left for the Buchbinder Legionaere. We don’t know much about the rest of the team, but Dortmund should be in the hunt for a playoff spot.
HSV Stealers
After leading the Stealers in his second year to their first playoff appearance since 2001 Shawn Pynn resigned as head coach in Hamburg at the end of last year and eventually ended up with Verona in the second Italian division. The HSV found a replacement with Jens Hawlitzky, who comes from the Wanderers. Also no longer on the team are the Americans Kody Hightower and Jon Adamec. New on board are French outfielder Jerome Rousseau (Savigny) and infielder Sergej Yatsenka (Bremen). They are expected to add more players, whom identity they haven’t revealed yet. The Stealers obviously hope to return to the playoffs, but it is not going to be easy.
Cologne Cardinals
The Cardinals missed the playoffs in the 2009 season with a fifth-place finish. It was a quite winter in Cologne. Head coach Torsten Krapf and dominant starting pitcher Kalev Betancourt left town. Christopher Hamacher takes over at the top of the coaching staff. Kevin Brunet replaces Betancourt in the starting rotation besides Moritz Sckaer and Pascal Raab. Additionally outfielder Joe Slater is supposed to reinforce the offense besides Anderson Alvarez Echavarria, Sascha Steffens and Florian Nehring. They not only need to have Brunet being a similar strong force in game two like Betancourt was in 2009, but they also have to find solid pitching in game one to be in the playoff race. Cologne lost game one of each weekend’s doubleheader eleven out of twelve times last year.
Bonn Capitals
After missing the playoffs for a second straight year, the Capitals parted ways with head coach Mathias Winterrath last summer and replaced him with former national team pitcher Mirko Heid. They heavily improved the roster alongside of flame thrower Tim Henkenjohann, who extended his contract despite having several lucrative offers. He will be joined by the Americans Alex Baham, Jesse LaCasse, Jon Marshall and Bryce Schoening. The ladder is going to be the second starting pitcher besides Henkenjohann and the lone real newcomer since the rest already has played in the Baseball-Bundesliga in the past. Additionally Christian Nsien returns to the Caps after two years in Solingen. On paper the team looks a lot stronger in comparison to last year’s edition. Now they have to prove that they belong back into the upper half of the standings in their 16th year in the German elite league.
Pulheim Gophers
The Gophers had to survive a relegation series against the Berlin Sluggers to remain in the Baseball-Bundesliga. And it is not going to be easier this time around. Christopher Gentles takes over as head coach with help from the new American additions Lee Roberts and Daniel Lamb-Hunt. They are replacing last year’s skipper Ben Bizier, O’B Taylor and Joe Overby. Roberts is going to take over the foreign starter role in game two, while Markus Solbach and Andreas Kolbe will split time in the first match. They also were able to bring in Florian Arnold from the Mainz Athletics and former Cologne Cardinal Kevin Farias. However they also lost their best offensive player with Sebastian Jaap, who returns to the promoted Dohren Wild Farmers.
Dohren Wild Farmers
As a new team in the Baseball-Bundesliga the first goal is always to avoid relegation. This is also what the Wild Farmers aim for. Vince DeCoito and Tyson Jaquez came from the United States to take over as player-coaches. DeCoito also is going to be a starting pitcher besides Henrik Dallmann and Thies Brunkhorst. As mentioned before Sebastian Jaap returns to Dohren after one year in Pulheim and will provide some elite league experience to the new club.
Team by Team Previews Southern Division
Photo: © Gregor Eisenhuth www.eisenhuth-photographie.de