The German Baseball and Softball Federation (DBV) announced on Tuesday morning that former Minnesota Twins Minor Leaguer Rodney Gessmann didn’t make the cut for the final roster of the European Championship in Stuttgart, Heidenheim and Neuenburg. The right-handed pitcher/outfielder of the Buchbinder Legionaere Regensburg apparently had some scheduling conflicts, as the tournament interferes with his exams according to Baseball-Deutschland.de.
Germany had announced a 25-player roster at the beginning of July and played a pair of exhibition games versus Belgium (10-2, 11-2) this weekend. Afterwards the players received two off days before they meet up again in Stuttgart on Wednesday for the final preparations before the opener on Friday against the Ukraine. Gessmann is batting .363 (OBP .439/SLG .516) with ten extra-base hits, but only pitched two innings in the Baseball-Bundesliga this season.
Final Roster Germany:
Pitchers: Martin Almstetter, Markus Winkler, Martin Dewald (all three Heidenheim Heidekoepfe), Dominik Hartinger (Gauting Indians), Tim Henkenjohann (Bonn Capitals), Philipp Hoffschild (Buchbinder Legionaere Regensburg), Andre Hughes (Solingen Alligators), Enorbel Marquez-Ramirez (Telemarket Rimini), Moritz Sckaer (Cologne Cardinals), Eugen Heilmann (Paderborn Untouchables)
Catchers: Simon Guehring (Heidenheim Heidekoepfe), Chris Howard (Buchbinder Legionaere Regensburg)
Infielders: Max Boldt (Mainz Athletics), Ludwig Glaser, Philipp Howard (both Buchbinder Legionaere Regensburg), Nils Hartkopf, Dominik Wulf (Solingen Alligators), Edward Martinez (Saarlouis Hornets), Jendrick Speer (Paderborn Untouchables)
Outfielders: Cedric Bassel, Klaus Hopfensperger (both Buchbinder Legionaere Regensburg), Robert Gruber (Heidenheim Heidekoepfe), Sascha Lutz (Mannheim Tornados), Julius Uelschen (Paderborn Untouchables)
Coaching Staff: Greg Frady (Head Coach), Troy Williams, Omar Johnson, Tim Boeth, Dirk Fries (Assistant Coaches)