The 2013 season in the German Baseball-Bundesliga gets underway this weekend with two matchups. In the northern division the Untouchables Paderborn host the Dohren Wild Farmers and in the south the Buchbinder Legionaere Regensburg the Stuttgart Reds (live stream at Legionaere TV).
Schedule:
Friday, April 12, 2013:
19:00 Regensburg – Stuttgart
Saturday, April 13, 2013:
12:00 Dohren – Paderborn (DH)
14:00 Regensburg – Stuttgart
Untouchables Paderborn
The Untouchables saw quite a few changes during the offseason. Head coach Stefan Fechtig said farewell to Brian Fields (Haar Disciples), Matt Martin (back to US), Kyle Botha (back to South Africa) and surprisingly Julius Uelschen (retired!!). To replace these players the U’s brought in Harry Glynne (from Buchbinder Legionaere) and new imports Robert Herrmann and Taylor Swift (not the singer obviously). Additionally a couple of youth players got promoted to the first team.
Dohren Wild Farmers
The Dohren Wild Farmers actually were relegated from the Baseball-Bundesliga last fall, but thanks to the lack of willing second-division teams they stayed on the top level of German baseball. They have a new head coach with Timo Hassenpflug. Jeff Rustico and Matt Keplinger are gone. Garrett Rogers, northern division MVP in 2011, is back, but apparently is nursing a shoulder injury. Therefore he seems to be limited to offensive duties and the club signed Joseph Zrinzo to take over as starting pitcher in game two. Dominic Milo is their new American catcher.
Buchbinder Legionaere Regensburg
Reigning title holder Buchbinder Legionaere Regensburg mostly kept his team from 2013. Petr Cech (back to Ostrava), Harry Glynne, Dominik Hartinger (unknown) and Kai Bindemann (inactive) are no longer on the roster. Johannes Jung (Haar Disciples) and Boris Bokaj (back after one year in Grosseto) are the two lone notable acquisitions. Mike Bolsenbroek and Justin Kuehn are still with the team and the probable starting pitchers. Evan LeBlanc will miss the first part of the season after knee surgery. Matt Vance, Ludwig Glaser and Chris Howard are anchoring the offense as usual.
Stuttgart Reds
Their opponents of the Stuttgart Reds reinforced their team for their sophomore campaign. Matti Emery takes over as player-coach for Brett Helenius. Richard Olson will still man game two as starting pitcher. Sascha Lutz, Craig Pycock and Chris Beck strengthen the offense, which still includes Hagen Rätz, Josh Little and Gavin Ng (out till mid-season due to back injury). Greek national teamer Andy Orfanakos is supposed to give the pitching staff another boost.